tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73648319586409747712024-03-18T23:54:49.940-04:00Cafe Tor -- Gluten-Free Verbal Beverages for the Thirsty MindGardening, gluten-free cooking, and all stops in-betweenMarianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-26073661196201752532011-08-08T10:42:00.000-04:002018-05-31T14:30:39.760-04:00Too Much Too Fast: MuffinsSomewhere around January Shauna James, blogger over at<a href="http://glutenfreegirl.com/"> Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef</a> and author of several cookbooks with her husband, Danny, wrote about <a href="http://glutenfreegirl.com/gluten-free-whole-grain-muffins/">giving up both xanthan and guar gum</a> because it was giving her "digestive issues." (That's code, people. As she puts it, "Nothing says love like explosive diarrhea.")<br />
<br />
She relaized that, despite being GF, she wasn't feeling very well. Through trial and error, she discovered her body didn't deal well with gums. Although all her cookbooks and previous blog recipes include xanthan and guar gum, she said, "You know what? These recipes don't need gums. Use them if you want to, but me, I'm leaving them out."<br />
<br />
<br />
She listened to her body and changed her mind.<br />
<br />
I am not a celiac. Twice I've had the genetic testing, and both genes test negative. Still, I feel better without gluten. And yet... I don't feel as physically well as I think I ought. I have some recent bloodwork that says, "Well, no wonder," but nothing conclusive.<br />
<br />
Long story short: I've decided to try the<a href="http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/index.htm"> Specific Carbohydrate Diet</a>, which means eating no disaccarides -- no grains, no processed sugar, and <a href="http://www.scdrecipe.com/legal-illegal-list/listing/">a few other interesting caveats</a> you can read more about if you like. And I have felt a lot better for doing it. I have had to change my mind about things... and now I'm not sure what I think.<br />
<br />
It makes it kinda hard to do a GF baking blog, you know?<br />
<br />
I never set out to be a nutritionist, but I've had to become one. Still, there is so much I do not know. I don't know why the incidence of food allergies and intolerances are on the rise. I don't know why people who are not celiacs still can't handle gluten. I don't know what the appropriate strains or balance of gut flora is, nor what genetic markers gut bacteria can trigger. But I do know this: it doesn't matter what diet you're trying to follow -- you need a good muffin recipe.<br />
<br />
I developed this recipe when I was on an extremely strict yeast-free diet. I later tweaked it to work as a GF muffin, and I've recently tweaked it to be SCD compliant. This recipe can be made egg, dairy, sugar, gluten, and wheat free, plus vegan. I confess, I haven't tried <i>all </i>of these at once, but I suppose you could. I can think of at least five flavor variations, but three -- vanilla, fruit, and spice -- will give you the blueprint for anything else you can think of.<br />
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The flexibility and deliciousness of this recipe delivers the message best: listen to your body, do what you need for health, and don't be afraid to change your mind.<br />
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<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr><td cellpadding="5" width="15%">3 cups of (choose 1):</td> <td width="20%">almond flour (SCD)<br />
GF flour blend</td><td>To make these SCD compliant, use almond flour alone or a combination of other SCD legal nut flours. For GF, use your favorite flour blend. For flavor I like a blend of half nut half GF flours, but I'm being SCD, so it's all nut for me.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>1/4 to 1/2 tsp</td><td>salt</td><td>Or leave it out</td></tr>
<tr> <td>2 tsp of (choose 1)</td> <td>baking soda (SCD)<br />
baking powder</td><td>With SCD, soda is the only choice. Almond flour is not inclined to rise high anyway. If you're using a GF or wheat flour and yogurt/buttermilk, a combination of baking soda and baking powder is appropriate; otherwise, just baking powder is fine.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>3/4 tsp</td> <td>xanthan gum</td><td>not SCD compliant; by all means, leave if out if you like.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>a total of 1 to 1 1/2 tsp (choose as many as you like) </td> <td>cinnamon<br />
nutmeg<br />
starch-free baking spice blend</td><td>Or leave them out.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>1 tsp</td> <td>vanilla</td><td>Or leave it out.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>1/4 cup (choose 1)</td> <td>sugar<br />
honey (SCD)<br />
maple syrup<br />
3-4 packets sugar substitute</td><td>SCD is honey. There's also nothing wrong with leaving out sweeteneer entirely and doubling down on the flavoring components. Honey can scorch, so the temperature and timing can vary in your oven.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>1/4 cup (choose 1)</td> <td>coconut oil<br />
butter<br />
vegetable oil</td><td>Whatever you prefer, but do melt the coconut oil and butter first.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>choose 1</td> <td>1 whole egg<br />
2egg whites<br />
soaked flax/chia seeds for egg equivalent</td><td>The flax or chia seeds are vegan, but not SCD compliant.</td></tr>
<tr> <td>a total of 1 cup (choose as many as you like)</td> <td>mashed fruit<br />
SCD yogurt<br />
appleseauce<br />
fruit juice<br />
coconut milk<br />
milk<br />
water</td><td>SCD yogurt plus a banana or mango is very tasty. Coconut milk alone can also replace the fat, but check to see if it contains gums. Fruit juice and applesauce can replace sugar. Check to be sure your liquids are SCD compliant.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake papers.<br />
<br />
Combine dry ingredients and stir; combine wet ingredients and stir. Add wet to dry. You're looking for a consistency that glops off a spatula; if it sticks, add a bit more liquid.<br />
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Divide among the muffin cups and place in preheated oven for 14-18 minutes. Time varies on your oven and ingredients. Many ingredients will affect the finished color, so be sure to press the tops of the muffins, which should spring back. A toothpick should come out clean.<br />
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Let cool completely before freezing.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-48777363729066968702011-01-11T14:56:00.000-05:002011-01-11T14:56:40.463-05:00Maximizing Failure.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBL91Gv5-eR_n4fxnedztjiQKa3ivN4gyAoTmVKcaZ14i8-daaU3mw1b99Dj85q35ifUykh3GIxGugfZKJZW2jLGeEoarRHIbFhWkUOv8He00Xhku5J2jUDVdTvfRbEGU3FnYWg5NZOg/s1600/0111bad-pancakes-005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBL91Gv5-eR_n4fxnedztjiQKa3ivN4gyAoTmVKcaZ14i8-daaU3mw1b99Dj85q35ifUykh3GIxGugfZKJZW2jLGeEoarRHIbFhWkUOv8He00Xhku5J2jUDVdTvfRbEGU3FnYWg5NZOg/s1600/0111bad-pancakes-005.jpg" /></a></div>I just made some truly awful pancakes.<br />
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Don’t take my word for it. Look at them. The pictures are crummy because the pancakes are crummy. One side is like pale, crispy elephant skin, the other a wet blueberry, blubbery mass.<br />
<br />
That blueberry there in the middle? <i>It’s looking at you.</i><br />
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Okay, so what happened? I’ve made pancakes before, and I’ve made pancakes from this recipe before, and I’ve never had them turn out like this. What’s the deal?<br />
<br />
Because I only changed one variable, I can only surmise that almond milk has heretofore undreamed of properties. Thinking about it (while crunching on my crappy pancakes), it makes sense---almond milk is essentially fine particulates of ground nut suspended in water, whereas cow’s milk is an emulsion of fat and water. I suppose that the almond milk contains fats as well, and nuts are high in vitamin E, but I don’t think they’re emulsified in almond milk. The point being is that the almond milk behaved like a nut---it toasted up real crisp.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEbKyVCxTw3fdvYsLajHnl3FWAejLrPO0C0BQjKB-V2ERJ0qWb3SEiv4F0Ns1s8IP_xRoT_qzAzlyUjU5G8j0aK7AXI1hEt9UXygtELL2I52wGdRaA2HzzTFY76rZvjjOHBzL_NI2TUw/s1600/0111bad-pancakes-002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEbKyVCxTw3fdvYsLajHnl3FWAejLrPO0C0BQjKB-V2ERJ0qWb3SEiv4F0Ns1s8IP_xRoT_qzAzlyUjU5G8j0aK7AXI1hEt9UXygtELL2I52wGdRaA2HzzTFY76rZvjjOHBzL_NI2TUw/s1600/0111bad-pancakes-002.jpg" /></a></div>When you attempt to convert recipes over to gluten free components, you will fail. The muffins will fall, the bread will be wet and shrink into a star shape, the cookies will crumble like sand. You will want to throw things and cry. You will fail spectacularly, because when you aim big, you can fall far.<br />
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Once upon a time I failed quite nicely making a pound cake recipe from Martha Stewart. I failed three times---and the ingredients for pound cake (copious amounts of butter, sugar, and eggs) are not cheap. After the third failure (a wet, sad cake that <i>would not bake</i> on the inside) I exploded with a lengthy invective that included only two words that weren’t curses: “mother” and “Yankee.” In retrospect, I’d like to apologize to my Northern friends; I was rude. But in addition to hair-curling epithets, this is what I learned: mixing techniques create the final texture of baked goods, pan size matters, baking powder was invented for a reason, and some recipes just plain suck.<br />
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The point is not to avoid failure. If you want to avoid failure, stay home. The point is to maximize your failures so that each successive attempt yields predictable and better results so that you are finally able to achieve your goal. I would like to provide you with a few key ways to maximize your failures at gluten free baking:<br />
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<b>Timing is everything.</b> If you have never tried to convert Aunt Edna’s German Chocolate Cake recipe, do not attempt it for Grandma’s 80th birthday celebration. You may get lucky and it turns out beautifully. You may end up with a sodden mess. Important celebrations with lots of witnesses are not a good time to experiment.<br />
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<b>Research and compare.</b> You want to convert a chocolate cake recipe. Is there a GF version already out there? What changes were made to the GF versions versus the one you have? Should you use xanthan gum or guar gum, how much, and what’s the difference? You may decide to forge ahead with your own recipe, but taking the time to see what other bakers have already done can give you some ideas for how to change your cherished recipes.<br />
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<b>Write out what you intend to do before you do it.</b> Pull out the original recipe and study it. Put sticky notes next to it. Then copy the recipe over on the sticky notes. Write out how much of which flours and how much xanthan and/or guar gum you intend to use. Experimenting by halving your recipe? Do not attempt fractional division on the fly! No one will care that you know the difference between the numerator and the denominator if the bread has the texture of a sofa cushion.<br />
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<b>Take notes.</b> Because there’s nothing like doing it perfectly and then forgetting what the hell you did.<br />
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<b>Change only one variable at a time.</b> If the first time you try to change a recipe you use GF flours, reduce the amount of sugar, use half butter half vegetable oil, and forget to add the xanthan gum, good luck in trying to figure out why the chocolate chip cookies could double as paving stones. Changing too many variables at once leads to unpredictable results, and you can’t be sure what lead to failure.<br />
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<b>Vanilla ice cream covers a multitude of sins.</b> If you ignore the first bit of advice and decide to treat your dinner guests to a brand-new rustic plum tart recipe because you want to impress them and the whole thing leaks, burning a sticky sugar mess on the edges of the crust, serve it with ice cream. Always keep vanilla ice cream on hand for dinner parties. Ice cream blanks out the brain receptors responsible for criticism. I have found that even lactose intolerant people are happy as a clam to eat ice cream so long as they can take Lactaid first. But it has to be good ice cream, not whipped air, skim-milk stuff. Save the guar gum for the piecrust.<br />
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Anyone who says that we should be happy about failure should be slapped—hard. Failure stinks. But failure can teach us a lot once we get over the stabbity feelings that accompany it. I can giggle about my pancakes because I know what I did wrong, and I know I can do better next time. But that pound cake thing? Grrr…<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2_YuUBFKOmiaLdSDKhOXLqrPHHo6ogEe93X2jmYmYvhTgfZelIP51Z6LQNL0LvrF3k59lFb7pUZshyxhXI88z2ud5DnYGtbVrQxX9SeR-xodUX2kchwuPMlBQjMfZFFhjN1hSIaYMw-s/s1600/0111bad-pancakes-006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2_YuUBFKOmiaLdSDKhOXLqrPHHo6ogEe93X2jmYmYvhTgfZelIP51Z6LQNL0LvrF3k59lFb7pUZshyxhXI88z2ud5DnYGtbVrQxX9SeR-xodUX2kchwuPMlBQjMfZFFhjN1hSIaYMw-s/s1600/0111bad-pancakes-006.jpg" /></a></div>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-46671655027636557492010-10-14T14:58:00.000-04:002010-10-14T14:58:10.799-04:00Peach PanicIn late July/early August I got buried under <b><i>70 pounds</i></b> of peaches. You read that right. I got nailed with 3-5 pounds of peaches daily. I have made frozen peaches, peach stuff, peach jam, peaches over ice cream, canned peaches, peach hooch (vodka and brandy), peach crisps and peach smoothies. Next year I'm trying peach leather and Jamaican jerked peaches.<br />
<br />
I became a peach pusher.<br />
<br />
I took peaches to classes. I left unmarked bags of ugly peaches on porches. I became embarrassed explaining to everyone why my peaches are so ugly--Coryneum blight, people. Also called shot hole disease, California blight, peach blight or pustular spot, all caused by the fungus <i>Coryneum carpophilum</i>. 'Elberta' peaches are really bad to get it, and the humidity of the Eastern seaboard never lets up.<br />
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Other than the zinnias, the rest of the garden died in this year's heat. Broke my heart. I bled peach puree everywhere.<br />
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I stopped pushing peaches and just scrambled to use the damn things. My garage is now an advertisement for Ball canning supplies. I went to the Amish country of Ohio and scanned the Internet, looking for peach tips. MP couldn't find anything in the freezer because it was packed with peaches. I ate peach smoothies for two weeks. <br />
<br />
MP dislikes peaches. I began to resent his tastes. <br />
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I learned that click bugs really click and that it takes ants 2 days to bury a whole peach.<br />
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The canned peaches were <i>terrible</i>--too soft. MP suggested granitas. With a generous shot of dark rum it was awesome. Peach daiquiris were not far behind. The peach hooch was a disaster; it tasted like cough syrup and I could not tell which was the vodka and which was the brandy. <br />
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Any post I made from July through August would have read like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/">Dr. Miles Bennell</a> screaming, "Look, you fools, you're in danger! Can't you see?! They're after you! They're after all of us! Our wives, our children, everyone! <i>THEY'RE HERE, ALREADY! YOU'RE NEXT!</i>"<br />
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After that, there was really nothing to post about, because when you're surrounded by peaches and it's 95 degrees and you've already spent 4 hours next to the stove, experimenting baking with hamburger buns just sounds like a bad idea.<br />
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But I'm excited now. Because it's cooler, because the peaches are all gone. Because I'd like to tell you about my recipes for bread and thin mints and hamburger buns.<br />
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Still there are peach mysteries out there. One last peach hung and hung on the tree for days, hard as a Styrofoam ball... and then it was gone. Did one of my young neighbors pilfer it? Doing some work in the flowers up next to the house, I found a pile of 20 peach pits. What stacked them there?<br />
<br />
For the moment, the peach tree is still. I eat my toast with peach jam and plan for the holidays. <br />
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Hey Aunt Marsha, guess what you're getting for Christmas!Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-84042612258867426832010-06-23T12:30:00.001-04:002010-06-23T12:31:26.895-04:00Is That... A Ripe Peach? A Gluten-Free Bun?For somebody who really hates to travel, I do an awful lot of it. <br />
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This latest round wasn't too bad (MP cooked), but there was one really dismal restaurant meal. I ordered from their "gluten-free menu" and got, exactly, a piece grilled salmon, grilled asparagus, and a lemon-half. There was no salt or pepper on the fish or asparagus. No butter or oil. No herbs. Nothing. What I listed is what I got on the plate.<br />
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It wasn't about good food; it was about not getting sued. I thought, "Dude, are you even trying in there?"<br />
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All these little peaches out there look like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAS6d-d9pyXIU_4ZBl8ERSEKyREucxjQo2WoaqShSLJ7WDm5MfSNeJIHsXJ6iKYIIep47-2sSE2tfeBTZEaFEaKtOjmRcLwqrXWyJTeLkkr8CXqZaj5v3V6SM0Q78eAADHzh4TdbeLg4/s1600/0623peach02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAS6d-d9pyXIU_4ZBl8ERSEKyREucxjQo2WoaqShSLJ7WDm5MfSNeJIHsXJ6iKYIIep47-2sSE2tfeBTZEaFEaKtOjmRcLwqrXWyJTeLkkr8CXqZaj5v3V6SM0Q78eAADHzh4TdbeLg4/s400/0623peach02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Except for these three. And I have no idea what's up with this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfg1EJHH3LTZiQtZnmUvo8Dmr8ahn8K7nXXT9DJN8uSTqTeKE8sXD77tsT9B7Ma6QimxncCO6-Dvo5088rM70C7kWa3ABuuvgdpEE8J9TEqpdgFzTB9ZP0oNuikq59iNxZIZr_lhqbAMY/s1600/0623peach01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfg1EJHH3LTZiQtZnmUvo8Dmr8ahn8K7nXXT9DJN8uSTqTeKE8sXD77tsT9B7Ma6QimxncCO6-Dvo5088rM70C7kWa3ABuuvgdpEE8J9TEqpdgFzTB9ZP0oNuikq59iNxZIZr_lhqbAMY/s400/0623peach01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
They're very close to the ground (I totally should have cut that branch this spring but I didn't because I am a wimp)and maybe... Nope. I got nothin', just three mutant peaches. I check out the big one and, alas, it has some end-rot or something. It would never last in this heat. I squoze it a little and... huh?<br />
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Ladies and Gentlemen, is this not a ripe peach?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1DVlMqP2glv2rRcAHV3J9o5Uoc9JXhf9D7BG-6LJEY9cmU2YY_tOZwE6oGT0I8c0Fv-QldwWGN8BFMgQE_3p1z1N3M20CsmdF3ZobqSj6KyfKSkaFLVXAVAjf73GtZYHdlVEpvHO6LOo/s1600/0623peach03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1DVlMqP2glv2rRcAHV3J9o5Uoc9JXhf9D7BG-6LJEY9cmU2YY_tOZwE6oGT0I8c0Fv-QldwWGN8BFMgQE_3p1z1N3M20CsmdF3ZobqSj6KyfKSkaFLVXAVAjf73GtZYHdlVEpvHO6LOo/s400/0623peach03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
I ate it and it was divine. Ripe peaches in June? Whoever heard of such a thing? Elberta is supposed to be a late-season, August-September peach, and I get mine at the end of July -- except for this, and I don't know what this is.<br />
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Gardening is very engaging. Little mysteries everywhere.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMeZAZI4W-QFRjzqY96uv_IHYxXppwYbf5vkQ5cy-IBv9VD0yFs8VrpnmWJsyUF8t0QE9NMvlB4cwFThgdBghg3qEu_mkDW6LQJSFqvuvqhpJr-g0RbiIoVnVWJYJZ6UmCu92LgadClIY/s1600/0623bun01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMeZAZI4W-QFRjzqY96uv_IHYxXppwYbf5vkQ5cy-IBv9VD0yFs8VrpnmWJsyUF8t0QE9NMvlB4cwFThgdBghg3qEu_mkDW6LQJSFqvuvqhpJr-g0RbiIoVnVWJYJZ6UmCu92LgadClIY/s400/0623bun01.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
<br />
Look at this.<br />
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Yes, go ahead. I'll wait.<br />
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Do you see that? Do you see that bun? I made that bun! An honest-to-goodness hamburger bun, the likes of which I have not had in seven years! (BTW -- the beer in the back is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6lsch_%28beer%29">Kölsch</a>, which was a great choice with the burger.)<br />
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There are still some issue to be worked out, but I am seriously on to something. When I get this ironed out, you can bet I'll post it here!<br />
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And there's a restaurant I know of that needs some recipes, too.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-73589134741754249182010-06-03T12:09:00.007-04:002010-06-03T12:19:41.462-04:00Love and Lemon Squares<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9fWydCjdJr0TAHXVIm2mxVQnJPSgjX37oBLrVfQpaAGIv-Dm2T24JHfFTESD9qayqUZc6Ry5nhrErec-kQJ1BVQTE5vT6TtHY-97KmwcHHDbFM6TDHVuhLKbCmF4wjBc04ztXoK7YELQ/s1600/0603lemon-squares-003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9fWydCjdJr0TAHXVIm2mxVQnJPSgjX37oBLrVfQpaAGIv-Dm2T24JHfFTESD9qayqUZc6Ry5nhrErec-kQJ1BVQTE5vT6TtHY-97KmwcHHDbFM6TDHVuhLKbCmF4wjBc04ztXoK7YELQ/s200/0603lemon-squares-003.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>There is a mockingbird perched in the peach tree, panting. No one believes me when I tell them <a href="http://birds.suite101.com/article.cfm/do_birds_sweat">birds pant when they're hot</a>, but it's true.<br />
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Welcome summer. I want lemon squares.<br />
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Not that I know anything about lemon squares. I've never made lemon squares before, my mother never made lemon squares, and I have no childhood memories of tire swings (ours was made out of a plank), swimming pools (it was a creek), or nibbling tart lemony confections on a screened-in porch at twilight (okay, that I totally made up). At some point in my life I must have eaten them -- except I can't say when -- and at some point in my life I knew I would someday want to make them because I have no less than five different recipes clipped from magazines and saved in my baking binder.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikwEK7KT-D-WFu_Rtsoq1l1RJZG14fVK4V_L-ShWwuvbu7nhiABpS1Rl15sUtnITVpsF4tpcmGaKIyx8v6Z6AmmnxUqr1NJLXCrIBnDqGesFUXNRfcP-EnomeX88zTD6rdNcwGNql4iR4/s1600/0603llemon-squares-027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikwEK7KT-D-WFu_Rtsoq1l1RJZG14fVK4V_L-ShWwuvbu7nhiABpS1Rl15sUtnITVpsF4tpcmGaKIyx8v6Z6AmmnxUqr1NJLXCrIBnDqGesFUXNRfcP-EnomeX88zTD6rdNcwGNql4iR4/s200/0603llemon-squares-027.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Nevertheless, it's hot and I feel the lemon square call of shortbread and tart citrus and a fine dusting of powdered sugar.<br />
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I confessed all this to MP one afternoon. As there are only two of us in the house, I can't really see any point in whipping up a batch of something only to find out upon completion that MP has always hated what I just whipped up. Seeing as I had five different recipes, each claiming to be the One True lemon-square, I asked MP if he liked lemon squares and if he had any opinions about them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFYUN5jnnXTnAhRn55ciid8X9NU0SzuUFyPhD-WXqTIYX9KHjsrsQimL16GQPCRh4vT0Z8oCM5aDT2VetOfdNiSzkwOGiHfvrcpZBvVICd4iB4ij7-yxaUqhHHuEg4Zco2Z-iTANFfQWg/s1600/0603llemon-squares-009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFYUN5jnnXTnAhRn55ciid8X9NU0SzuUFyPhD-WXqTIYX9KHjsrsQimL16GQPCRh4vT0Z8oCM5aDT2VetOfdNiSzkwOGiHfvrcpZBvVICd4iB4ij7-yxaUqhHHuEg4Zco2Z-iTANFfQWg/s200/0603llemon-squares-009.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>Confronted with the possibility of lemon squares, MP leapt into action. He studied the recipes with much frowning and tongue clicking. On the subject of zest-usage he could see both pros and cons; on the matter of powdered sugar he was absolute -- there can be no lemon square without powdered sugar. Not only did MP have an opinion about lemon squares, but he provided me with the exact mathematical ratio of lemon curd to shortbread that would optimize for lemon square perfection. <br />
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Suddenly this became much more intimidating. I wasn’t sure I could whip up what is essentially a two part dessert (shortbread plus lemon custard) with such precision.<br />
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“Don’t worry if they don’t come out perfect,” replied MP, “I’ll eat the evidence.”<br />
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Love takes many forms.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5rE74SXmkTodvdZu8q94PXB5FTIs4f-qbyEnkSxP6u3DfoWTaYZnRGzbMS54rXI3Vnz2ILtidS3MmI5oOhwmpxbjli67NMHOp-GArSrz-VlOjcxncX-oWnEPLExG5s774TocunEkSes/s1600/0603llemon-squares-007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5rE74SXmkTodvdZu8q94PXB5FTIs4f-qbyEnkSxP6u3DfoWTaYZnRGzbMS54rXI3Vnz2ILtidS3MmI5oOhwmpxbjli67NMHOp-GArSrz-VlOjcxncX-oWnEPLExG5s774TocunEkSes/s200/0603llemon-squares-007.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I went with <a href="http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/lemon_bars.aspx">Joanne Chang’s lemon bar recipe from a 2002 issue of Fine Cooking</a>. Because her ingredients were also listed by weight, it made the conversion to gluten-free easier for me. I did <b>4 oz of my white rice/tapioca starch/potato starch blend and 2 oz of brown rice flour</b>, which gave me a bit over a cup of flours. With an added<b> ¼ teaspoon of xanthan gum</b>, I had my GF shortbread base.<br />
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A word on curd: once again, here’s a recipe that uses eggs in ways the casual baker may not have tried before. Try it anyway -- yes, making your own curd is some trouble, but it is worth it.<br />
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And strain your curd! I have no idea what this cruft is. I didn't scramble my eggs when tempering them, I swear! I'm gonna claim that the cream curdled because of the acidity of the lemon juice.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZU0-Ug1-xrZJbt5LLI31XsNFiNW8_g3_o4q8iuOLTogvI2fWyVsOK2-nKtekNgTWLq7QTtZ1EVTJanu6TtEjRxACiZcxqI_OWK4ybcuPOW-v5YMTUyvWL9iDQzzNJlvdXvkq9CxQTtc/s1600/0603llemon-squares-021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZU0-Ug1-xrZJbt5LLI31XsNFiNW8_g3_o4q8iuOLTogvI2fWyVsOK2-nKtekNgTWLq7QTtZ1EVTJanu6TtEjRxACiZcxqI_OWK4ybcuPOW-v5YMTUyvWL9iDQzzNJlvdXvkq9CxQTtc/s400/0603llemon-squares-021.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
A strained curd is a smooth curd. This is what is meant by "coating the spoon."<br />
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Ms. Chang and MP disagree on both the ratio of curd to shortbread and the powdered sugar issue. In her experience customers love the thicker layer of lemon curd, and she doesn’t feel that the bars really need the layer of powdered sugar. MP is a shortbread hound and likes many of his baked goods to be topped with a sugar crust. I would say that these are philosophical differences in the lemon square vision, and each baker must follow their heart.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJKdRC56xLoC-uDrshNjWLQfPfNqIj2NyzJNCaydr5fgQORYoK687Nbunzg6OrpW279C5p2mz6OvPduNMwv1mg1t68CRtxAVwQYvm7At1AXsWgURfFiO91LBZVBOP4IQLTLkaVxtTVJ4/s1600/0603llemon-squares-026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJKdRC56xLoC-uDrshNjWLQfPfNqIj2NyzJNCaydr5fgQORYoK687Nbunzg6OrpW279C5p2mz6OvPduNMwv1mg1t68CRtxAVwQYvm7At1AXsWgURfFiO91LBZVBOP4IQLTLkaVxtTVJ4/s400/0603llemon-squares-026.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I did not pour all of the lemon curd over the shortbread, but only enough so that shortbread and curd existed in MPs 1:1 ratio. Having leftover lemon curd did not bother me at all, because I <i>also </i>had leftover macarons in the freezer. Believe me, the curd found a home. In addition, I did feel that the lemon squares required a faint dusting of powdered sugar –- but only upon serving (left on the bars it melts right into the curd), passing the sugar so that each could arrive at his own level of sweet perfection. (Note: one of those <a href="http://www.orensdailyroast.com/shopproduct.aspx?Product_Id=238">hinged tea-balls</a> makes a great powdered sugar shaker.) They need to be stored in the refrigerator; the shortbread is pretty buttery and it helps the cut bars keep their shape.<br />
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For someone who had no previous lemon square experience, I was pretty pleased with myself. And true to his word, MP ate the evidence.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-85007758906425581452010-05-21T14:11:00.000-04:002010-05-21T14:11:09.538-04:00Around the Yard -- PeachesStepped out with my coffee one morning to survey the yard and I saw this little guy:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWzC_uQrAmwop_MB_FKlvWmllYe3aYYAGv0tkRV4VdF99DU_wPtySTf752sINzDSU1Cuu9LKjmW0pDHDi3FEY8P1JGGPYJLieTPZoeWdshxjFKaeBan1ux2lioBOQXCtL-WXhFiNCj1cw/s1600/0521bunny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWzC_uQrAmwop_MB_FKlvWmllYe3aYYAGv0tkRV4VdF99DU_wPtySTf752sINzDSU1Cuu9LKjmW0pDHDi3FEY8P1JGGPYJLieTPZoeWdshxjFKaeBan1ux2lioBOQXCtL-WXhFiNCj1cw/s320/0521bunny.jpg" /></a></div><br />
He was so cute, I stalked him.<br />
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I have no idea how he got in. I just had a new gate and fence installed for the very purpose of keeping bunnies out. This little guy was not ten feet from my tomato seedlings. This did not amuse me. Taking pictures, I knew at some point he would run, and then I'd find out how he got in.<br />
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I got pretty close.<br />
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I finally dropped the camera and thought, 'Well you dumb bunny, just how close are you going to let me get?'<br />
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Not closer than that. He took off toward the gate. But I guess when you are very young and small you panic easily. He went and donked his wee head on the gate. But on the next try, to my surprise, that little guy squoze <i>between </i>the gate and the gatepost! A two inch gap, maybe? I dashed to the gate behind him to see where he went. <br />
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Nowhere, I guess. No bunny in sight.<br />
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That a bunny broke into my back yard reminded me that a) it's time to get the tomatoes in the ground, and b) I'd better make sure all the little green peaches are up off the ground. Rabbits will eat little green peaches, and if they know there are green ones, they will hang out looking for ripe ones (says my inner Farmer MacGregor, anyway).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOo-dglHqT2HUCPN1ch7K9LGxey94JVlIDJsvLlZnypsdG1eWXD-VcTc9cTKE3AhVGj6CVBAT_36nZklaVu6n6_CH5EY0Wbnb1Rmo6ULjXBYMlaA_jdzwrAw08Pz7m4Y4XFA2WbzIHFog/s1600/0521thinned_peaches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOo-dglHqT2HUCPN1ch7K9LGxey94JVlIDJsvLlZnypsdG1eWXD-VcTc9cTKE3AhVGj6CVBAT_36nZklaVu6n6_CH5EY0Wbnb1Rmo6ULjXBYMlaA_jdzwrAw08Pz7m4Y4XFA2WbzIHFog/s400/0521thinned_peaches.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
When we got back from Paradise, I thinned the peaches (left). Today, I thinned them some more (right). All told I think I thinned five pounds of green peaches. It was a great fruit set this year, and I'm very excited.<br />
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I'm really bad to thin peaches. I'm too tender-hearted. All those beautiful clusters of three and four and five peaches look like a turn of the century postcard! But I must be firm. Two reasons: thinning the peaches in the long run gives you bigger peaches and helps keep the tree producing year after year without skipping.<br />
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And here's the second reason:<br />
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Do you see that, that crescent-shaped mark on the peach? That's from a <a href="http://www.canr.msu.edu/vanburen/plumcurc.htm">plum curculio</a>. These little bugs look for the surface where two peaches touch and enter one of the peaches at that site. It's protected there; predators can't see the mark. Thinning peaches so they're 6-8 inches apart puts a crimp in plum curculio style -- no cozy, inside surfaces.<br />
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I have a feeling that part of the reason a few peaches have been dropping is not just that the tree is unloading. I think the curculios have been busy. Well, I can get busy, too.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-WZPsd5RVvQkA2Cn62VVTiPeuyBZYQv-3xZsgxajNh0imwDU26sqvqmO2W4O5mcsmRciczClBcZkZaQyS0jIvMsBk7ufElwsZ7U40mSPZNnLGRb-Zq_trR5gUq4My4_-7FvGTWrklb8/s1600/0521peaches1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-WZPsd5RVvQkA2Cn62VVTiPeuyBZYQv-3xZsgxajNh0imwDU26sqvqmO2W4O5mcsmRciczClBcZkZaQyS0jIvMsBk7ufElwsZ7U40mSPZNnLGRb-Zq_trR5gUq4My4_-7FvGTWrklb8/s320/0521peaches1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
It's not like we're suffering here. Plenty of peaches. Still, you know, there's the oriental fruit moths. And then the mockingbirds -- first year I covered the tree with netting, but this year it's so big I'm not sure I can. <br />
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Harper Lee tells us it's a sin to kill a mockingbird, but I sure would thwack one with a peach-pit if it ever went after my peaches. It's the way they do it; they use their beaks like a knife and spoil the peach and move on to the next one.<br />
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Now if mockingbirds ate plum curculios, that would be different...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKK_iQsc1EdpWWxpRwLK5zD6xpu2iK3FBAg-Rl-EVrDIP6qFzqZdjIwx_5Z-E_ffxC18zWmblLOdWtjd40qVseQ7yULTWWvxvvkUSAohdKBxxPuuD7tq2FadWRPhHPFbnVp4iKxa09TY0/s1600/0521peaches2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKK_iQsc1EdpWWxpRwLK5zD6xpu2iK3FBAg-Rl-EVrDIP6qFzqZdjIwx_5Z-E_ffxC18zWmblLOdWtjd40qVseQ7yULTWWvxvvkUSAohdKBxxPuuD7tq2FadWRPhHPFbnVp4iKxa09TY0/s320/0521peaches2.jpg" /></a></div>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-66244667098541389072010-05-13T10:00:00.004-04:002010-05-13T10:08:03.061-04:00True Adventure – Tomato Basil Risotto<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinY_nPjAMwv6v31a4OSio54HgM4qbjEFOmacwmmGmgZSC-j-UlSlgBfk2QxUaKb6u9BD8JKOFB310GOS7feLALLrV4bXshyphenhyphenKjsMCernScvaP-Wsh4BO19ZgdRyVVp8QDp7kxadYuIumf0/s1600/0513stairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinY_nPjAMwv6v31a4OSio54HgM4qbjEFOmacwmmGmgZSC-j-UlSlgBfk2QxUaKb6u9BD8JKOFB310GOS7feLALLrV4bXshyphenhyphenKjsMCernScvaP-Wsh4BO19ZgdRyVVp8QDp7kxadYuIumf0/s200/0513stairs.jpg" width="150" /></a></div> When you are Very Young, Adventure sounds like a Wonderful Thing. Unknown lands! Exploring new places! Experiencing new foods! But when you become Older, “Adventure” seems more like “Bother.” Fingers get pinched, feet get sore, bowels are unsound, and figuring out where to eat night after night is a chore.<br />
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It isn’t easy to travel gluten-free. Sometimes you end up eating plain, crappy food—or none at all. Airports are a carbohydrate wasteland. In public spaces, we want to be sure we are never more than 200 yards from a soda. "Shelf-life" is a problem for food chemists, not chefs.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKqZCF8FDL-lOcuFqRudHJyKaDDh0mWx1alWo6nlvjEJbb_eXo_NZof3cAbjeFWg7sI2-GDMTSlUzVGaaeeh_4kZ_4__xcFZ3S10GmhsNCN_ohgORpAe2LaQPr_f-q_BY9GbhYZM2oxo/s1600/0513rooster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKqZCF8FDL-lOcuFqRudHJyKaDDh0mWx1alWo6nlvjEJbb_eXo_NZof3cAbjeFWg7sI2-GDMTSlUzVGaaeeh_4kZ_4__xcFZ3S10GmhsNCN_ohgORpAe2LaQPr_f-q_BY9GbhYZM2oxo/s200/0513rooster.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Of course I pack my own food—what the TSA will allow. But one cannot feel satiated on fruit and nut bars. Salad doesn’t quite cut it, either. Besides, after eight hours in an airport, who wants to eat iceberg lettuce out of a cup? Forget the dressing; “modified food starch” could mean anything. (Note to self: learn to make beef jerky.)<br />
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Arriving at a restaurant isn’t always better. The best people: bartenders who know nothing about food allergies, say so, and are willing to go into the kitchen and read the labels on the boxes for you. The worst people: servers who assume they know about food allergies and, as a result ask neither you nor the kitchen staff any further questions. It is very common for servers to confuse “gluten-free” and “low-carb.” If only you knew how many times waiters have refused to serve me French fries...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu100VUoh8WcRVIb1LHzh2EP-ZHOhHB6yEHU6Ifq0dWeV1iqLebeYpSXYt9Qn4bvcQcXWVg4P928cxBVScxu4kVKz5ijHkCo93Bak8qqN529DhLnSITrVRvG7wzF-ZUCVZf5aiR4e6O9s/s1600/0513bay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu100VUoh8WcRVIb1LHzh2EP-ZHOhHB6yEHU6Ifq0dWeV1iqLebeYpSXYt9Qn4bvcQcXWVg4P928cxBVScxu4kVKz5ijHkCo93Bak8qqN529DhLnSITrVRvG7wzF-ZUCVZf5aiR4e6O9s/s200/0513bay.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>My vacation was fun, we had a wonderful time, and there is no doubt in my mind that I ate wheat and got sick from it. We were ready to come home for some comfort food.<br />
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Risotto fits the bill nicely. It’s hot, creamy, and eaten with a spoon (okay, a fork if you want, but spoons work better in bowls). It can be made in endless varieties of flavors, vegetarian or not, as a main course or a side accompaniment. It knows no season. Risotto rocks. It’s no accident that one of New York City’s premiere gluten-free restaurants is named <a href="http://www.risotteria.com/">Rissoteria</a>.<br />
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So, ah... Why am I not showing you a picture of this fabulous Tomato Basil Risotto of which I speak? Well, um... It’s MP’s fault. He made it, and it was so fabulous, I thought, “This is absolutely my next post!” but we’d eaten it all so I was going to photograph the leftovers when I had them for my lunch but MP who almost never eats leftovers snuck into the kitchen and ate it for his lunch and there wasn’t any to photograph. The fiend.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kuC_1PhuYmi0B6qmMd3dtZZBJLpBA7ajhUk8HpK6VTL0744Zm8pVg3PdkFBBnT6P0Ig3rgTtvCKdHRa359b4plCXCX5hppiQ4uNlLoJ7vqmWsMRK5RyfFBc71ILIuByeFAsNlfS0Lp8/s1600/0513risotto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kuC_1PhuYmi0B6qmMd3dtZZBJLpBA7ajhUk8HpK6VTL0744Zm8pVg3PdkFBBnT6P0Ig3rgTtvCKdHRa359b4plCXCX5hppiQ4uNlLoJ7vqmWsMRK5RyfFBc71ILIuByeFAsNlfS0Lp8/s400/0513risotto.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Here. This picture is from <a href="http://www.lastnightsdinner.net/2007/03/27/tomato-risotto-with-basil-and-fresh-mozzarella/">Last Night’s Dinner</a>, which is where we got <a href="http://www.lastnightsdinner.net/2007/03/27/tomato-risotto-with-basil-and-fresh-mozzarella/">the recipe</a> from. Yes, it really looks that fabulous.<br />
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Many instructions for risotto are very hyper-vigilante, “You Must Keep Stirring!” but really, risotto isn’t that much of a diva. The texture will still be lovely even if you only stir it every few minutes. If you’ve never done a risotto, this tomato-basil version is a lovely place to start.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMdLYlyT9hw7jvOhEiZv61QlzY1S4NYIWamxEX2ihJoFfZhfTAhQtS4uJ3adYZ8ZhyphenhyphenVMkEQHq_e3O1FoZ2LzCviYm2Nbll0vbZfRRjwrFZfpos-iR75T4RihptGlu6yCdUr0WYVYFeMa8/s1600/0513hemingway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMdLYlyT9hw7jvOhEiZv61QlzY1S4NYIWamxEX2ihJoFfZhfTAhQtS4uJ3adYZ8ZhyphenhyphenVMkEQHq_e3O1FoZ2LzCviYm2Nbll0vbZfRRjwrFZfpos-iR75T4RihptGlu6yCdUr0WYVYFeMa8/s320/0513hemingway.jpg" /></a>When you are Young, Adventure is Grand; when you are Old, it is a Bother. When you can embrace all that Adventure can be, knowing that the best part of Leaving is Returning to your own Home Cooking, then you have reached just the Right Age.<br />
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Looking over our photos, MP and I think we’re pretty darn close.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-10039248699929083122010-05-10T14:00:00.003-04:002010-05-10T14:04:48.228-04:00Why yes, I was stranded on a tropical island...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFxaFxjUipKcS9qw4b_rmsWQwIfuT3vJL2T7s1DEX28YaHOZgoE4j27LmvwkMbVpGHo74L3T3FDVyhpKf3lP3SEFyTFds95QovAIqiF9WpQ48qKYBdOm5ZRZ_0eVg2xXstsPI5PwNu1I/s1600/0510_island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFxaFxjUipKcS9qw4b_rmsWQwIfuT3vJL2T7s1DEX28YaHOZgoE4j27LmvwkMbVpGHo74L3T3FDVyhpKf3lP3SEFyTFds95QovAIqiF9WpQ48qKYBdOm5ZRZ_0eVg2xXstsPI5PwNu1I/s200/0510_island.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br />
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Seriously, I was. I have pics to prove it!<br />
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Wow. Even I think it looks Photoshopped. It wasn't but... Wow. Blue water.<br />
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Alas, lovely as it was, tropical islands are not known as hotbeds of gluten-free eating. This one sure wasn't. Boy howdy, was I ready to come home to bake and cook.<div style="clear:both;"></div><br />
I'm working on some ideas right now, really wonderful things. Ideas like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhmqK83wzFoSqF3Olu9tkazS7GB0gwN6WEIbu4iNd_AIxJy0Nh5hi7rD5qNsbQ1N92Lf2UWZWaEE0w4F6zpYTs6uR7zKuC5VdOXGNEngcKSVJK0bcZKVNsDgTzmaIthEWyYoans4s8Jio/s1600/0510hotdog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhmqK83wzFoSqF3Olu9tkazS7GB0gwN6WEIbu4iNd_AIxJy0Nh5hi7rD5qNsbQ1N92Lf2UWZWaEE0w4F6zpYTs6uR7zKuC5VdOXGNEngcKSVJK0bcZKVNsDgTzmaIthEWyYoans4s8Jio/s320/0510hotdog.jpg" /></a></div><br />
That's a hot dog bun, folks. A bit craggy, but decidedly gluten-free. But who knew that attempting to create a GF bun would lead to such a philosophical discussion of just what <i>is </i>a hot dog bun and what is its purpose? Trust MP to get straight to the heart of the matter: <i>It's a bun. It holds the hot dog. That's it. It's not complicated.</i><br />
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And this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOwbZX1S1tB9ohwnpMioQpDVHRRDgBUWG1q-M9D06UDZ7f7lnxScjajTaO6Trk1FcdNHLLbqYzFBFNoidSiHQTnzMJeSQsEk57lbaTE1X9jy4JJBA51_wcoaooWH3ev7lPXlCZGj8oYg/s1600/0510thinned_peaches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOwbZX1S1tB9ohwnpMioQpDVHRRDgBUWG1q-M9D06UDZ7f7lnxScjajTaO6Trk1FcdNHLLbqYzFBFNoidSiHQTnzMJeSQsEk57lbaTE1X9jy4JJBA51_wcoaooWH3ev7lPXlCZGj8oYg/s320/0510thinned_peaches.jpg" /></a></div><br />
You see those? Those are the peaches I had to pick off <i>because there were too many on the tree!</i> And I could still stand to go over the peach tree again! I am very excited.<br />
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So sorry for the delay. I'll spare you the GF woecake and get cooking!Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-47508686196562332822010-04-22T16:43:00.004-04:002010-04-23T09:33:57.108-04:00Sleepless Nights -- MacaronsMy first experience with macarons was a cell-phone charm.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiB4BOcHSJSFlgA8iaqQXmZ0TAqWR8XW1iInxGDVTWI8Rd7gz14kzw_YC3kqGe8rhDGpeeHM0-gRT7OBOLf2m1t9QwdB7WIRc8FiAz9m9UctrmQPRq3FffGhslc1OpBeocp5z1SvvOXSg/s1600/0415cellphone_charm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiB4BOcHSJSFlgA8iaqQXmZ0TAqWR8XW1iInxGDVTWI8Rd7gz14kzw_YC3kqGe8rhDGpeeHM0-gRT7OBOLf2m1t9QwdB7WIRc8FiAz9m9UctrmQPRq3FffGhslc1OpBeocp5z1SvvOXSg/s320/0415cellphone_charm.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.q-pot.jp/parlor/macaron/macaron.html">This one, actually</a>, from Q-Pot, Japanese purveyor of exquisitely crafted food as jewelry (the top image). I think all their cell-phone charms are gorgeous, but I found something particularly captivating about macarons with jewels stuck in buttercream. At 3,780 Yen, this is a $40 cell-phone charm.<br />
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I saw it, wanted it, and immediately went to Strapya World and <a href="http://www.strapya-world.com/categories/12_3202_1504_4430_4467.html">bought the $10 knock-off</a> (the image beneath) Not as beautifully crafted, perhaps, but something I could afford.<br />
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I’d been seeing macarons (not the coconut-meringue cookies called “macaroons,” but these brightly colored confections) pop up here and there in chicey-poo-poo magazines dedicated to travel and cooking. The articles inevitably waxed poetic about fanciful flavor combinations (wasabi-grapefruit! White truffle-hazelnut!) and a divinely chewy/crunchy texture, but I didn’t really pay them much attention other to think that macarons were another very pretty example of Pastries I Can’t Eat.<br />
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Then I found out that they are gluten-free.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgEc90F5JKntdOXTcf7zsDcN8zn7p6RlsLOwfy_r4pIWKAGKyvvcnPAZ2GHVYMIP3Xj_vKyw1Cn7EobjEl63W1IxDc8_Y69-tfcRCh-vZ7m1lczNDTXAKrijQpDotf8nIFrEJVlrRlHc/s1600/0415macaron-stack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgEc90F5JKntdOXTcf7zsDcN8zn7p6RlsLOwfy_r4pIWKAGKyvvcnPAZ2GHVYMIP3Xj_vKyw1Cn7EobjEl63W1IxDc8_Y69-tfcRCh-vZ7m1lczNDTXAKrijQpDotf8nIFrEJVlrRlHc/s320/0415macaron-stack.jpg" /></a><br />
Macarons are appealing on several levels. They are beautiful. They come in bright colors and tantalizing, exotic flavors. They are small, delighting the beholder in the same way that doll furniture, sushi rolls, and petit fours delight. They cannot be bought at Wal-Mart or your local grocery; there is a certain amount of exclusivity (dare I say snob appeal?) to finding a baker that actually makes them. You can’t have them everyday because it’s difficult to find them, so who would begrudge you a few calories when you can get them? They are like a tiny wrapped gift, small and lightweight. Macarons make the perfect Treat.<br />
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So... Why aren’t we all out there making them?<br />
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Because according to the authors of the chicey-poo-poo articles, that these little cookies are the Divas of the Pastry World. They are fiendishly finicky, easily upset by humidity and the temperature of the kitchen. They can be ruined if you overbeat them by one stroke. Only the truly experienced pastry chef should even dare attempt them, and even then they fail sometimes, and—<br />
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Oh, hooey. I mean, seriously? It’s a sandwich cookie. It has four ingredients. What’s with all the drama? <br />
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I have done a lot of searching. I have baked a lot of macarons. I can tell you definitively that macarons are not a Big Deal... And they are a Big Deal. It depends on the kind of person you are.<br />
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When I see an ingredient list this simple, I know that the process used to combine them has got to be important. This is the case with macarons. You need to understand how each of the ingredients is working in the recipe in order to make the best of the recipe. (I’m sure I just lost some of you right there. That’s okay; not everyone gets excited about this stuff. But you should <i>definitely</i> keep looking at the pictures!)<br />
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For some, this kind of recipe presents an interesting challenge, and they just want to dive in and see what happens — like <a href="http://www.bakerella.com/macarons/">Bakerella at SugarComa this past January</a>. Then there are some people who create macarons with a kind of Buddha-like simplicity. That would describe <a href="http://www.mytartelette.com/">Tartlette.</a> She has several recipes on her blog for macarons, and none of them involve dire warnings, tears, or drama. Look:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnf_drPUq9xWxS9az7y8Ijq4LrzE5gHpjBQjPxleMTPvf4K7jQPZEApimj3LE66AD10DMc8dyrKv0B2Y_fzEDOv3ldk__9OjfH3E-3x82pvMbyXhRJQlBejfsojlXLBBlLAvKRQrCFBQ/s1600/0415tartlette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnf_drPUq9xWxS9az7y8Ijq4LrzE5gHpjBQjPxleMTPvf4K7jQPZEApimj3LE66AD10DMc8dyrKv0B2Y_fzEDOv3ldk__9OjfH3E-3x82pvMbyXhRJQlBejfsojlXLBBlLAvKRQrCFBQ/s400/0415tartlette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Not only does she make fabulous macarons, but she takes beautiful pictures of them: on the left, <a href="http://www.mytartelette.com/2009/05/recipe-powdered-strawberry-macarons.html">Powdered Strawberry and Vanilla-Bean Macarons</a>; on the right, <a href="http://www.mytartelette.com/2008/11/black-tie-macarons-and-calendar-girl.html">Black Tie Macarons</a> <br />
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I studied <a href="http://www.mytartelette.com/2009/02/recipe-index.html">the macarons on her site</a> and the PDF copy of her article <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/546793/Demystifying%20Macarons%20-%20Desserts%20Magazine.pdf"><i>Demystifying Macarons</i></a> from <a href="http://dessertsmag.com/">Dessert Magazine</a>. I cross referenced it against other web sources. I gathered my materials, wrote up my instructions, and made my first batch of macarons.<br />
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I get it now. From the first shattering bite, I was hooked.<br />
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<a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/546793/Demystifying%20Macarons%20-%20Desserts%20Magazine.pdf" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2eoZcz95QJycbSVLXlZmKLW0l74qH91jLSDGiG8l0z3OpVrFRixVMPaJk4oGSHfrSVWJCc-a8IIF_qQIzMV_aEKuxcVGtThrn4ngj2mIrJT1kPHRRzMpOHUYnvCKvLS0dZvA439oljg/s200/0415PDFlink.jpg" width="200" /></a>You want to try your hand at macarons? Start here. Her directions are what you need to know. I cannot improve upon these instructions, but I would like to add a few notes from someone who has not had pastry training and who can see where the home baker might get a little nervous:<br />
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As I said, <b>macarons are a process.</b> Whatever recipe you choose, you will want to read carefully beforehand, several times, to understand what you’re going to do and when. Measure everything carefully, preferably with a scale, but failing that, <a href="http://bakingdesserts.suite101.com/article.cfm/howtomeasureflour">use the right measuring techniques for dry ingredients.</a> Get your stuff in order on the countertop – parchment lined pans, spatulas, pastry bags. You do not want to be rooting around in the cupboards in the middle of this.<br />
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Believe it or not, baking powder was an invention. Before that, people used baking soda, and before that they either used yeast or whipped egg whites to leaven baked goods. In this day of boxed mixes, we don’t mess much with whipping egg whites, so when a recipe says “soft foam” or “medium stiff meringue,” confusion or uncertainty is understandable. <b>If you’ve never whipped egg whites in your life, you may want to practice with a few just too see what “foamy,” “soft peaks,” “glossy peaks,” and “broken” look like.</b> It isn’t hard, but if you’ve never seen it before it can be rather daunting.<br />
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<b>Egg whites smell funny.</b> Not exactly bad, just... not good. And leaving them out in your kitchen for a day or two doesn’t improve them any. This step kind of bothered me, and I couldn’t tell if I smelled an egg smell or the beginning of something sinister. Assuming your kitchen temperature isn’t ninety degrees, just go with it. Egg whites smell funny.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_1KWFiAG8C1ErZbIDeexfq8HZQzSlRofM5lCSZQqQf32CTTsTJIXFwHpCqqWquAoy8NApcHWvEcSZygylgZR5oi8lC_qMfo1pSSY9jzXFrleEj_hH6PTPWcMdnRk-5BKFoNX9vlHnJY/s1600/0415mactrio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_1KWFiAG8C1ErZbIDeexfq8HZQzSlRofM5lCSZQqQf32CTTsTJIXFwHpCqqWquAoy8NApcHWvEcSZygylgZR5oi8lC_qMfo1pSSY9jzXFrleEj_hH6PTPWcMdnRk-5BKFoNX9vlHnJY/s640/0415mactrio.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<b>The number of strokes is important.</b> Lock up the cat and send the kids outside, because you need to concentrate and count. If you have never folded egg whites into something before, you will definitely want to practice on a pancake or muffin batter. When I began my “macaronage,” my internal dialogue went something like:<br />
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5 strokes: “She’s nuts. This will never work.”<br />
10 strokes: “What have I gotten myself into?”<br />
15 strokes: “Well, at least it will make a good story.”<br />
20 strokes: “You know... This might actually work.”<br />
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<b>I found 20 strokes a good place to stop and add any add-ins</b> (cocoa powder, food coloring, etc.). This is also where I began to be much more careful and thorough, turning and scraping the bowl.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJFH8kPax-Alt1H2HGrM-3klavQkSB03N2kJgOUcIxm6Lmm1yBPB9eAXtFzD0hebla55MHpX0LD2OS9on_koP_RWPg2m1YVWgqHpqczIc_GmlBmET805YIP4uNC81S8DJTXe-SKo9KwM/s1600/0415easter_macaroons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJFH8kPax-Alt1H2HGrM-3klavQkSB03N2kJgOUcIxm6Lmm1yBPB9eAXtFzD0hebla55MHpX0LD2OS9on_koP_RWPg2m1YVWgqHpqczIc_GmlBmET805YIP4uNC81S8DJTXe-SKo9KwM/s320/0415easter_macaroons.jpg" /></a></div>But if you should use 51 strokes, the macarons will not be ruined! The point is, pay attention. Watch the batter, not the television.<br />
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Tartelette specifically states that <b>powdered food coloring is better than the liquid food coloring</b> we all have in our pantries, because the powdered coloring does not add moisture to the meringue. This makes sense; if the egg whites are left lingering on the countertop for 24 hours, why would you want to add liquid back in?<br />
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Naturally, I had to try the liquid food coloring. I'm like that.<br />
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I divided the batter at 20 strokes and adding 5 drops liquid food coloring with 1 teaspoon powdered egg whites to each half of the batter. I also tried another divided batch with 3 drops liquid food coloring and no egg white. <br />
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Yes, it made a difference. Instead of the impressive shatter/chewy combination, the texture was much more subdued. Actually, I never felt like I got any of the batches baked all the way through; I baked them for the full 12 minutes and then a bit longer until they started to brown. They stuck to the parchment. They weren’t bad, they just weren’t that magical transcendent texture that all the articles raved about. They went from, “<i>This is amazing!</i>” to “Well, these are pretty tasty.” <br />
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<b>Can you use liquid food coloring? Yes. But you will never achieve the intense colors you can achieve with powdered coloring and the texture will suffer.</b> I personally will not be using the liquid drops again, and I think for your first batch, you shouldn’t either. If you take the time to make macarons, then you should have them as they should be and experiment later! (That is to say, I haven’t tried gel food coloring yet, and I certainly will...)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU9YFOiXpHi72zm-oc_rsoQQ6sjwKIGVujy_Pwa_StbOwFBEeWsQgoGjNl_8AA5HbonVreBYkT1BO7-qHXmfNiEW8FTPSv_AVqhjEA0T6_6OpQxtIeY3iIIkwcwIx1PBB1ZLJdTWWU13A/s1600/0415macarons_rasp1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU9YFOiXpHi72zm-oc_rsoQQ6sjwKIGVujy_Pwa_StbOwFBEeWsQgoGjNl_8AA5HbonVreBYkT1BO7-qHXmfNiEW8FTPSv_AVqhjEA0T6_6OpQxtIeY3iIIkwcwIx1PBB1ZLJdTWWU13A/s320/0415macarons_rasp1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I am a terrible judge of size, so <b>I drew 1 1/4 inch circles on the undersides of the parchment paper and used them as a template.</b> It wasn’t until I had actually loaded a plastic bag full of batter and cut off 1/4 inch at the corner that I realized I had no clue how to use a pastry bag. None. But with the pre-drawn circles as a guideline and a few macarons as practice, I did just fine.<br />
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After the first batch, I got the Ateco tips Tartelette mentioned in her article; unfortunately, having no clue about pastry bags, I ordered the wrong size coupler. That was okay – the guys at <a href="http://cooksdream.com/store/807.html">ultimatebaker.com</a> set me straight. As a matter of fact, he said “Just promise to order from us again!” and dropped <a href="http://cooksdream.com/store/couplers.html">the right sized coupler</a> in the mail, for free. (Unfortunately, I’m not really sure what size he dropped in the mail... If you’re as pastry-bag-challenged as I am, call and ask. They’re nice.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjAItl9_yG3nPDiTuLRBwXWOyhKH9r5JL6T7qt86BodtL8MF8-sQ_krKaWSbOuJXBXH2pnS_OwWLQ2XDfVVHmJdcsObt5QmzprJugw4buvW_sixyZumMRPnAjACgoMatFNpKYBi_ul6E/s1600/0415macarons-row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjAItl9_yG3nPDiTuLRBwXWOyhKH9r5JL6T7qt86BodtL8MF8-sQ_krKaWSbOuJXBXH2pnS_OwWLQ2XDfVVHmJdcsObt5QmzprJugw4buvW_sixyZumMRPnAjACgoMatFNpKYBi_ul6E/s320/0415macarons-row.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Using real pastry tips was quite exciting. I spent more time trying to keep macaron batter <i>in</i> the bag than trying to pipe it <i>out</i>. But like whipping and folding egg whites, it takes practice and patience. As you can see, I didn’t manage too badly.<br />
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Three of the four macaron ingredients—confectioner’s sugar, egg whites, and plain sugar—are also the same ingredients in royal icing. Royal icing is the mortar of the pastry world, used to make a particularly hard, shiny icing for cookies or to glue the pieces of a gingerbread house together. <b>You should not leave the mixing bowl in the sink and wait to do cleanup, or you will have to chisel dried macaron batter off your utensils.</b> If the batter should dry, running hot water in the bowl and letting everything soak will get everything unglued... eventually.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOTdWbReDgbb59zIZo7OaFK5thTATjEii6lRI3jKmEvVpS0RLbg0V5zFVawfnr4lqRMyjbk81bRx77Lu_bXJu2ImM82reIxefUJ43DvtYIZ-JW-oi3MTWfnae6_TKaOcCMjL0t7vaioM/s1600/0415macaronsmint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOTdWbReDgbb59zIZo7OaFK5thTATjEii6lRI3jKmEvVpS0RLbg0V5zFVawfnr4lqRMyjbk81bRx77Lu_bXJu2ImM82reIxefUJ43DvtYIZ-JW-oi3MTWfnae6_TKaOcCMjL0t7vaioM/s400/0415macaronsmint.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
My favorite combination so far is chocolate mint. Using the recipe outlined in <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/546793/Demystifying%20Macarons%20-%20Desserts%20Magazine.pdf">Demystifying Macarons</a>, I came up with:<br />
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3 egg whites<br />
30 g sugar<br />
200 g powdered sugar<br />
110 g almond flour<br />
and after 20 strokes, 2 TB of natural cocoa powder<br />
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And for the filling, a basic ganache:<br />
1/4 c heavy cream<br />
3.5 oz dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped<br />
3-5 drops peppermint oil (which is not the same as extract)<br />
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I used 5 drops of peppermint oil. MP informed me that the peppermint level of the macarons about blew the top of his head off. I like things minty, but you need to know your audience.<br />
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<b>You can never make too many macarons; they freeze great.</b> I layer them, unfilled, with parchment paper and put in a few of those “DO NOT EAT” desiccant pillow-paks I save from vitamin jars, and let them thaw on the counter for 15 minutes to a half hour before eating. They’re good plain, with jam, with ganache, with ice cream... Sometimes, I just lie awake at night thinking of what to put in macarons...<br />
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There are worse ways to spend sleepless nights.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-47697987611853063172010-04-09T13:14:00.003-04:002010-04-13T10:28:02.178-04:00Snacks: The Drama Llama StrikesMy taxes are being held hostage by an accountant who tells me her son is sick with H1N1 and refuses to answer my email and calls. The local grocery is closed for remodeling and I have to drive to a different store, which is always irritating because the shelves are arranged differently. Contractors with pneumatic nails guns are crawling over the back of my house putting up a new deck. And there's one or two other things I could mention, but nobody needs those images -- trust me.<br />
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The drama llama has struck and I'm starving and I don't have time to be fixing special snowflake food.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnHtXMYmP-Y9Ea1UTy5Z357LYKqOKj99ajdmT39LedSMascTW_SRsibLtgio_AgE1GmHjbZN7v-4_xdUPXk-xaYJkxC0OEA4RkxhJh7jMvbD_1fdKa7n5DxIUUfD37JanS0WJrnDpdy8k/s1600/0409avocado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnHtXMYmP-Y9Ea1UTy5Z357LYKqOKj99ajdmT39LedSMascTW_SRsibLtgio_AgE1GmHjbZN7v-4_xdUPXk-xaYJkxC0OEA4RkxhJh7jMvbD_1fdKa7n5DxIUUfD37JanS0WJrnDpdy8k/s320/0409avocado.jpg" /></a></div>Having appropriate snacks in a crisis is important. Stress can make us hungry as well as give us the urge to gnaw on a fencepost out of frustration. Without having provisions, you're liable to end up eating crap that doesn't fill you up and only makes the stress that much worse. The psychological aspect of an appropriate snack is also key. In the history of the world, no woman has ever had her heart broken and said, "I just want to sit on the couch and eat carrot sticks!"<br />
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Healthful, filling, psychologically satisfying. You can do this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPX_cVDe4tsAgcEHciHCVQruMG27sCT6djLVmV9GqRLQ2wpkDh7IPbMbgz2p7h0sX0kMgA7K2St1iERtHvOlp_bhEkDh0xdTGCIXtRHenHl1WNGMAZT4UEkAOvcFC8-8wG0lmRzq4hWxk/s1600/0409mousse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPX_cVDe4tsAgcEHciHCVQruMG27sCT6djLVmV9GqRLQ2wpkDh7IPbMbgz2p7h0sX0kMgA7K2St1iERtHvOlp_bhEkDh0xdTGCIXtRHenHl1WNGMAZT4UEkAOvcFC8-8wG0lmRzq4hWxk/s320/0409mousse.jpg" /></a></div><b>Avocados:</b> They contain fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. Their healthy fats make them deliciously creamy. More importantly, <a href="http://www.rawmazing.com/recipes/raw-chocolate-mousse/">if you mash them up with cocoa powder, soaked dates, and a few other ingredients, you get chocolate mousse</a>.<br />
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But if that seems like too much trouble, then go light: slice the avocado in half, remove the pit, squeeze a bit of lemon or lime on each half, and sprinkle lightly with sea salt.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS2oKUWtCoK6CCxIlzzUFh4ePUILhMTRNP99X1ZOOVzhK8WXZRdGGepwZEJ2L7KNUr-1r6mcdWcuXJNlR5q6LCJbzrEAkiVtuLEAXAp9x6Omee1IEeJIRfCW6JsZQm5s4bm-nnu3a2e7c/s1600/0409turkey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS2oKUWtCoK6CCxIlzzUFh4ePUILhMTRNP99X1ZOOVzhK8WXZRdGGepwZEJ2L7KNUr-1r6mcdWcuXJNlR5q6LCJbzrEAkiVtuLEAXAp9x6Omee1IEeJIRfCW6JsZQm5s4bm-nnu3a2e7c/s320/0409turkey.jpg" /></a></div><b>Turkey roll-ups:</b> Forget about the tortilla wraps and wrap your fillings in a slice of turkey -- a teaspoon of salad dressing and lettuce leaves, a bit of hummus and a green onion, or just plain spicy brown mustard and a bit of cheese. Turkey is is low in fat and high in protein, a great source of iron, zinc, phosphorus, potassium and B vitamins. Just make sure your source is gluten-free (YES they put wheat in deli meat. Usually as part of a cheap spice blend) and doesn't have a lot of weird chemicals and sweeteners.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTDQVSy5PJjMuxDRd2W0fgt7H6tx9puANtQ2QlZ7ZWvj9uQVNn6e9bhMt2FgVVtRr2ivihHynRC5JzBEC9uhyphenhyphenWa3y5idU-Cv1x8EurhlCjeHCFg29pgGY9cgS2CcX6pqXB80LQ-qI3zI/s1600/0409egg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTDQVSy5PJjMuxDRd2W0fgt7H6tx9puANtQ2QlZ7ZWvj9uQVNn6e9bhMt2FgVVtRr2ivihHynRC5JzBEC9uhyphenhyphenWa3y5idU-Cv1x8EurhlCjeHCFg29pgGY9cgS2CcX6pqXB80LQ-qI3zI/s320/0409egg.jpg" /></a></div><b>Boiled eggs:</b> The Incredible Edible Egg -- The ultimate in portable snacks! A good source of riboflavin, Vitamin B12 and phosphorus, and a very good source of protein and selenium, if you're worried about saturated fat and cholesterol, don't eat the yolk. Dip them in salt-free herb blends.<br />
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Have you seen<a href="http://www.jbox.com/SEARCH/egg_shaper"> the cute bento egg shapers</a>? Smacking an egg and peeling it is a great tension reliever!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwCVwx1DGicZwSSVHlB_dvCWubvpiDLS-ZpXYeAKWK__u-i7r3ywm0kBE_ilTkOIVH6Ord1bKE_xsuXSYJ8SIBfNzsqOr8xqC3VcBoqYppZFFPzAZ0DGzZnMAOxGhBl9Rf5E8hzl07a4/s1600/0409almonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwCVwx1DGicZwSSVHlB_dvCWubvpiDLS-ZpXYeAKWK__u-i7r3ywm0kBE_ilTkOIVH6Ord1bKE_xsuXSYJ8SIBfNzsqOr8xqC3VcBoqYppZFFPzAZ0DGzZnMAOxGhBl9Rf5E8hzl07a4/s320/0409almonds.jpg" /></a></div><b>Nuts:</b> Plain, raw nuts. Almonds, specifically, but also pecans, walnuts, and Brazil nuts from the shell (the ones you buy in bulk are old and rancid. If you think you hate Brazil nuts, that's probably why)Nuts are a higher-fat food,but it's mostly heart-healthy unsaturated fat, and they have protein. Two tablespoons of almond butter with a drizzle of honey and cinnamon feels like a very decadent treat.<br />
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There is a difference between stress eating (OMG CHEEZY POUFS!) and having a snack because the activity of your day has worn you down and you need fuel.Some might say that these are (*gasp*) high-fat foods and you will gain weight! But when you are really stressy and hungry, you need more than a carrot stick. I keep my portion sizes small on all these snacks -- one avocado, one slice of turkey, one egg, or 1/4 cup of nuts.<br />
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Food doesn't solve anything except hunger, and more is not necessarily better. When things are stressy, you need to stop and take breaks. Sometimes creative visualization can calm your nerves... like imagining how you'll shave the drama llama and knit a sweater.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-77310389501392479692010-04-01T11:07:00.005-04:002010-04-05T09:33:07.963-04:00More of Spring (and some Peachy Drama)Because Spring happens fast, and you don't want to miss it!<br />
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This is Persian speedwell, sometimes called Bird's Eye. They're weeds. Each one is no bigger than your pinky nail, but a whole carpet of them is truly spectacular.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqIPm1lTnYLmSMpAxLqUow7VWuPwp1QI1RIY_IRdtedloe-zoheS56dgt2-2GhLw0HWTjKSeTE2BqelTqiVmSRmrh15UW2re5ILAIXhr_3gK6jHrrWsvloLe75salLM6r7L7uH6G7KBr4/s1600/0401hyacinth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqIPm1lTnYLmSMpAxLqUow7VWuPwp1QI1RIY_IRdtedloe-zoheS56dgt2-2GhLw0HWTjKSeTE2BqelTqiVmSRmrh15UW2re5ILAIXhr_3gK6jHrrWsvloLe75salLM6r7L7uH6G7KBr4/s320/0401hyacinth.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Hyacinths, in an in-your-face pink!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgGugdZiPiziT4DLbllQVoTgqtYLbPPwLn4aKqcvN5iEWrpMu6cLRs8Z7Xrx2PmnM6B4obWlNggTkbDNie4jFvIepRkUtzvzNbl73ipq5YfIM6MSy3SgOOReBZ2S54GmR4BySZjhITr0/s1600/0401pears_street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgGugdZiPiziT4DLbllQVoTgqtYLbPPwLn4aKqcvN5iEWrpMu6cLRs8Z7Xrx2PmnM6B4obWlNggTkbDNie4jFvIepRkUtzvzNbl73ipq5YfIM6MSy3SgOOReBZ2S54GmR4BySZjhITr0/s320/0401pears_street.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1nib0KO8QPecYjWz5oibLQEk9MPgvI-imglNJv_2keyOZsIOYcd4ez30zVpc0Z3RhyC3pGyVgl9Venpis4LoxpgL3vFTT2tmthMTImuouYz0z8HSqBYWXGr7XyN9TAziyDVyQFlxwGh4/s1600/0401pear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1nib0KO8QPecYjWz5oibLQEk9MPgvI-imglNJv_2keyOZsIOYcd4ez30zVpc0Z3RhyC3pGyVgl9Venpis4LoxpgL3vFTT2tmthMTImuouYz0z8HSqBYWXGr7XyN9TAziyDVyQFlxwGh4/s320/0401pear.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Bradford pears. A whole street full of them looks like snowfall. The "pears" are more like crabapples; they taste terrible, but the birds love them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODeW76SYXsGro8RKf0GrgY3y8ZWNUgjDJ1lCQEZVOgkKPjPFDNpGz8-AZVBtbwj9OnmPEJBWV5GAxy1Ol0yPjpxW9b0m4vtJ3hKhlXy5MrM-IMV9Xj3cTWYsUJO45AbdUbKPGpplOVy0/s1600/0325star_magnolia2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODeW76SYXsGro8RKf0GrgY3y8ZWNUgjDJ1lCQEZVOgkKPjPFDNpGz8-AZVBtbwj9OnmPEJBWV5GAxy1Ol0yPjpxW9b0m4vtJ3hKhlXy5MrM-IMV9Xj3cTWYsUJO45AbdUbKPGpplOVy0/s320/0325star_magnolia2.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMxryayLFRIkF_-1L_sqvHOcbSIFC2u-tg-m0iSkMwaA3BSVBM1wk3HQgSLem7PlTjFCEAe1WDyGPaHE-xtcG6Spd9YRG4KjMLe6V_t466WUOAQJc-GJTHuUHrc-novOP8nyffi2bgw0/s1600/0325star_magnolia1jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMxryayLFRIkF_-1L_sqvHOcbSIFC2u-tg-m0iSkMwaA3BSVBM1wk3HQgSLem7PlTjFCEAe1WDyGPaHE-xtcG6Spd9YRG4KjMLe6V_t466WUOAQJc-GJTHuUHrc-novOP8nyffi2bgw0/s320/0325star_magnolia1jpg.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Star magnolias don't get nearly as big as the great magnolia trees of the South. They make me think of water lilies. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAz47MUQ9ZiBzBFOBpW4iYw7leJr_I-ZUGGcxQsuJnmJx0FQpOTubEfxOah0_HenLvyi3ySJRTyOSQGp15qaJAiSBVCVan6XyGiF4ueFtkklQG_Mwut2QYoPdHPrMeACSGquOfLiRXz8U/s1600/0401tulip_tree1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAz47MUQ9ZiBzBFOBpW4iYw7leJr_I-ZUGGcxQsuJnmJx0FQpOTubEfxOah0_HenLvyi3ySJRTyOSQGp15qaJAiSBVCVan6XyGiF4ueFtkklQG_Mwut2QYoPdHPrMeACSGquOfLiRXz8U/s320/0401tulip_tree1.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5ojYR3HYy4sNwK6vs5KOHjLqbulEQowpvb0Cjc_vMM3VKqKrRQIxfBBQ9jguRzPkqCZcLw8cz-26EdhunzBTOq_kgmyQzSAt3r1ptlXb-Nvzm1WGvwWHyN_8Ki5QmOtZwNiot2RAJes/s1600/0401tulip_tree2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5ojYR3HYy4sNwK6vs5KOHjLqbulEQowpvb0Cjc_vMM3VKqKrRQIxfBBQ9jguRzPkqCZcLw8cz-26EdhunzBTOq_kgmyQzSAt3r1ptlXb-Nvzm1WGvwWHyN_8Ki5QmOtZwNiot2RAJes/s320/0401tulip_tree2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This is also a kind of magnolia called a tulip tree.<br />
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A flowering plum. In Japan these flower so early that they're often flowering in the snow. If you see a painted scroll with a gnarled, flowering tree covered in snow, it's either an almond or a plum -- not a cherry tree.<br />
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And speaking of flowering fruit trees...<br />
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Of course it wouldn't be Spring without a little Peach Drama. The tree was looking really good -- <i>really good</i> -- and then the temperature dropped. MP and I managed to get the plastic over it for a night, <a href="http://cafetor.blogspot.com/2009/03/spring-interrupted.html">much as I did during last year's cold snap</a>, but this time I am so glad MP was around. The tree has grown significantly, and there's no way I could have done it along. As it was, we had to attach another piece of plastic just to get the thing covered to the ground.<br />
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But... I can't tell how well it worked. The weather got so rainy and nasty, the tree stopped blooming. The flowers out now look kind of ratty and spent, but there are still buds waiting to pop. Did I lose many flowers? Did I hurt the tree? No clue until it sets peaches. I cannot imagine doing this for my livelihood -- the suspense would kill me.<br />
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I keep thinking of a quote or a line from something: "There's a madman in the garden murmuring bits of truth, but if you would hear him you must first get down on your knees." An allusion to the Agony in the Garden? I don't recall. But I do think Spring is like that -- little quiet bits of glory everywhere, but if you want to see them, you must get down on your knees on the wet earth and look.<br />
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It's worth it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5hYjNb0dgt8GOYWlhp-ooXZ4iMzO2H9XD1YlS8ycIZgykdIVmosH4K3aNuOcpyT9EGGkWXGVMd_DWT2fzWR0aXJj_psMntN2iGzB-8IAtmOCY8L6NmCNZq8YDWYLZ-fhK0ao_7w7RqE/s1600/0401viola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5hYjNb0dgt8GOYWlhp-ooXZ4iMzO2H9XD1YlS8ycIZgykdIVmosH4K3aNuOcpyT9EGGkWXGVMd_DWT2fzWR0aXJj_psMntN2iGzB-8IAtmOCY8L6NmCNZq8YDWYLZ-fhK0ao_7w7RqE/s320/0401viola.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-91448080474038666192010-03-25T14:54:00.003-04:002010-03-25T14:56:51.036-04:00Happy Spring! Some Colorful DaffodilsMy last few posts, while culinarily worthy, have been photographically bland. I mean, chicken stock? Clam chowder? There's not a lot of zing in that.<br />
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I thought maybe you'd like some zing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEm58ERfr7Mv4UT8ZvrflJrklaSx8GYqk0vs_viFQtLgejjybc11h9c4XDQVJhRtzvxeCWTKGSgYZck7Fto3W-iCx2w7-2fz-ULD5tb728Ly701lLlhA2QZO-h83ExYc2kcaOgJxDdbKM/s1600/0325daffodils2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEm58ERfr7Mv4UT8ZvrflJrklaSx8GYqk0vs_viFQtLgejjybc11h9c4XDQVJhRtzvxeCWTKGSgYZck7Fto3W-iCx2w7-2fz-ULD5tb728Ly701lLlhA2QZO-h83ExYc2kcaOgJxDdbKM/s400/0325daffodils2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Despite the fact that you can't eat them, I love daffodils. This is my yard.<br />
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There's no way I can capture the exuberance, the scent, the joy of daffodils, but I tried.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-39VFtd8TWi7_Uq-3L9wTsT0X_7sVXj6ghowk1HN64a-VgqKzQ9pXzar78Hnr2kvRTKqWj6tSF93oDrmZfKhiyNNJI4il8zUXG9RRdQV0V2GK3YK4JavJHdP2Osua9Tyoq_yK4CfGbKI/s1600/0325daffodils4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-39VFtd8TWi7_Uq-3L9wTsT0X_7sVXj6ghowk1HN64a-VgqKzQ9pXzar78Hnr2kvRTKqWj6tSF93oDrmZfKhiyNNJI4il8zUXG9RRdQV0V2GK3YK4JavJHdP2Osua9Tyoq_yK4CfGbKI/s400/0325daffodils4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy3QURVawyEXVGIPJR8O96lAADKq_dYEozddrnvnKeQSw4kJufzqkkLqL7oXSQe2qmIEfXBeQgjEARpSOvukTZK0ietqn6iNG5rrsY7gghBKhl1i_Z6PVY6BnGWCuS7I2mI9quWDF0cpk/s1600/0325daffodils1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy3QURVawyEXVGIPJR8O96lAADKq_dYEozddrnvnKeQSw4kJufzqkkLqL7oXSQe2qmIEfXBeQgjEARpSOvukTZK0ietqn6iNG5rrsY7gghBKhl1i_Z6PVY6BnGWCuS7I2mI9quWDF0cpk/s400/0325daffodils1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>These clumps of flowers, all facing the sunshine, remind me of young girls at a party. I think if you listen closely, you can hear them giggle.<br />
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This little guy is no bigger than a quarter. He's called 'Minnow."<br />
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Get out and enjoy the spring you have!Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-75792394797989555892010-03-18T14:03:00.005-04:002010-03-18T14:46:41.936-04:00I’ve Been Poisoned! Wheat in Chicken Stock?!?I screwed up. That’s how I found out I screwed up big-time.<br />
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I whip through the grocery store like a whirlwind. I plan my menus weekly and arrange shopping lists by grocery aisle. There are times when I grab something off the shelf and don’t even stop the cart. And I’m a real hoot to go to the store with on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (I like to watch people in the baking aisle stare at flour and sugar like deer in headlights). I am an Experienced Shopper.<br />
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I’m gonna blame it on the old guy that was standing there minding his business. He stood in the stocks and soup section, about two feet in front of the shelves. I suspect he was just trying to read the labels. I feel for him, because as far as I’m concerned, they all look the same, and I can’t read the tiny print with my glasses, either. I said, “excuse me,” and snuck my hand in front of him for a quart of chicken stock. Except I screwed up and grabbed vegetable stock. Which I did not discover until I got home.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_p9xhbpXRkhsHnl4T-Sj6ki9wEgACj7xAz9t6UaFkgbnFMTqFdg1teGelB43Zd0CQzfyV4b1ntVEU0bZ5CffNREm0XoQG6VIR2hm7QciW6TQMbzZVqM2EOxVDWqwjMHJoZnV3fr9RlyI/s1600-h/0318swansonorgchickbroth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_p9xhbpXRkhsHnl4T-Sj6ki9wEgACj7xAz9t6UaFkgbnFMTqFdg1teGelB43Zd0CQzfyV4b1ntVEU0bZ5CffNREm0XoQG6VIR2hm7QciW6TQMbzZVqM2EOxVDWqwjMHJoZnV3fr9RlyI/s320/0318swansonorgchickbroth.jpg" /></a>It was no big deal, really. I knew I could use it for something else, it’s just that I don’t usually buy vegetable stock; when I want it I make my own. Well, maybe I wouldn’t have to, if Swanson’s brand was any good. Except that buried in a huge list of ingredients as part of a sub-list under “yeast-extract” was wheat. Only it wasn’t called out under the list of ingredients as required by the <a href="http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/FoodAllergensLabeling/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ucm106187.htm">Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004</a>. (Like under the ingredients label on peanut butter you see “Allergen Information: Contains Peanuts” and everybody thinks, “Um, <i>duh</i>?”) Vegetable stock? Wheat? I can’t eat that. I took it back to the grocery store for a refund and went to get me some chicken stock.<br />
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But a Funny Feeling came over me.<br />
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I poured over ingredient lists. All the boxed Swanson’s chicken broths I saw contained wheat. I’ve been eating that chicken broth at least once a week for, dear God, years. I mean, I eat soup for breakfast...<br />
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Well then. This explains a few things (like PMS and fatigue and “digestive upset,” to name the tactful symptoms).<br />
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I went online and found out that Swanson’s is owned by Campbell Soup. If I had known that, then I would have known better than to buy Swanson’s; to the best of my knowledge there is no Campbell Soup that is wheat free. I used their customer feedback option to leave what I fully confess was a rather ranty little email, basically wailing that I’d been poisoning myself and WHY didn’t they use the allergen labeling system according to law and WHY was there wheat in chicken stock in the first place?<br />
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They sent back this very level-headed reply:<br />
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<i>Ms. Marianne Richardson, we received your message and appreciate your taking the time to contact Campbell Soup Company.<br />
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The Campbell Soup Company follows all government regulations regarding the labeling of our products. In the case of the top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, fish, wheat, soy and shellfish) we list those ingredients in the product ingredient statement, no matter how small the amount might be. We do not include any of those items under the broader listings of "spices" or "natural flavors". We recommend that consumers always check the ingredient statement and evaluate the product based on the statement.<br />
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In regards to possible cross contact between products, we use an extensive and effective sanitation procedure in between different processing operations, and efforts are made to prevent any possible cross contact to the greatest practical extent.<br />
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Thank you for visiting the Campbell Soup Company website.<br />
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Campbell Soup Company Web Team</i><br />
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Which is basically true. My understanding of the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act was faulty and I had no one but myself to blame. (But they still didn’t answer why there’s wheat in chicken stock, which is a dumb thing to have in there. So says me. <i>::Flounce::</i>)<br />
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I guess I’m not the only once wondering what’s up with wheat in chicken stock. Ms. Alison St. Sure, blogging over at <a href="http://surefoodsliving.com/">Sure Foods Living</a> (Practical advice for living with celiac disease, gluten intolerance and food allergies) has a wonderful post titled, <a href="http://surefoodsliving.com/2009/01/does-chicken-broth-contain-gluten-milk-soy-yes/">Does chicken broth contain gluten, milk, soy? Yes.</a> If only I’d seen her site! She did all the legwork and has listed some major brands of chicken stocks and what allergens they contain. It’s a nice site; by all means, poke around it a while.<br />
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According to Ms. St. Sure's research, there are Swanson’s brands that are gluten-free, but they weren’t available at the grocery store I was at. And by then, it didn’t matter. Let’s just say I was feeling “off” about pre-packaged food. I dumped some tainted frozen lentil soup and kung pao chicken leftovers and asked MP to make some homemade chicken stock, which he did.<br />
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Unfortunately, stock is about as photogenic as clam chowder.<br />
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The moral of the story is: Don’t assume. Wheat gets put in everything, from herbal tea to ice cream. Manufacturing processes change. Even people who have been on a gluten-free diet for a long time can get nailed by hidden wheat. <br />
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Wheat sucks. <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/sillyyakwow.108568565">I’ve got the T-shirt to prove it.</a>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-36603689421444195012010-03-11T11:30:00.004-05:002010-03-11T15:20:30.874-05:00New England Clam Chowder<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbOqm8_DfP64QKhNV_DvmNvbjElwbe72SSKLlYOxNvUVxGR3pJ0v1C8p-Bk7ee954EjTFQmctsBWv5iOeJE44PybesidsMJ0NT-fTkQ-b7jTuoW2TYL_ozhSNmjpGXqPBQRwVyT9_l1I/s1600-h/0311sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbOqm8_DfP64QKhNV_DvmNvbjElwbe72SSKLlYOxNvUVxGR3pJ0v1C8p-Bk7ee954EjTFQmctsBWv5iOeJE44PybesidsMJ0NT-fTkQ-b7jTuoW2TYL_ozhSNmjpGXqPBQRwVyT9_l1I/s320/0311sky.jpg" /></a>I am totally excited about spring. However, March doesn't fool me one bit. It's brisk out there. It's best to be prepared. There will be days that require something warming for both the body and soul. <br />
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New England clam chowder should do the job nicely.<br />
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As a soup, it flows into the cold nooks and crannies of your body and warms it. As a chowder, it provides something substantial. I'm big on soup for breakfast; it's porrigey and warming, and it contains a lot of nutrition in a small amount of food. You can't beat throwing a pre-portioned block of soup into the microwave for speed and ease. Clam chowder is what I want on those blustery mornings where I'm not really sure I wanted to get out of bed in the first place.<br />
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The recipe I use is from Cooks Illustrated and can be found <a href="http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/article.asp?docid=492%20">here... sort of</a>. You need to have a subscription to access the recipe, but the discussion of their chowder vision is interesting. I'm not about to mess with the Cooks Illustrated business model or break copyright rules, so I can't exactly print it out for your perusal, but you can also find it in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/New-Best-Recipe-All-New/dp/0936184744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267732470&sr=1-1">The Best Recipe</a>. Really, with what I'm about to tell you, you can take any clam chowder recipe and make it your own.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HGPR8j2t5XVE9c_W-QiA_acRz_bCbsspgYPittPMYMx0oaA2taW6MRUzAabF1vCqeY0hB2cB6AzZqFbvNwO7990dvQ_UDuqBzWrvqvIpV1vVyv5xZHX9nffOPaen4UGK4wKcOYdHxfc/s1600-h/0311chowder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HGPR8j2t5XVE9c_W-QiA_acRz_bCbsspgYPittPMYMx0oaA2taW6MRUzAabF1vCqeY0hB2cB6AzZqFbvNwO7990dvQ_UDuqBzWrvqvIpV1vVyv5xZHX9nffOPaen4UGK4wKcOYdHxfc/s320/0311chowder.jpg" /></a><b>Fat</b><br />
Typically that means salt pork or bacon. I'm fond of bacon—salt pork can be difficult to find. Bacon can be purchased then frozen in 3-4 ounce bricks and thawed when you want it. (Do be sure the bacon is gluten-free, if that's a concern.) If you want to avoid meat/pork products, use half olive oil half butter. You'll be missing out on some flavor, but I understand how these things go.<br />
<br />
<b>Vegetables</b><br />
This depends on where you hail from. I suspect the purist wants only onions. I myself like a few stalks of celery. I suppose if you were to go that far, you may as well add a carrot and have a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirepoix_%28cuisine%29">mirepoix</a>, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I've had clam chowders that did, and they were lovely—I've even added half a red pepper into mine—but it's just not part of my chowder vision. Any time you sauté vegetables for a soup like this, you want to do it long and slow. Onions need time to get golden and develop their sugars. If stuff starts to brown on the bottom of the pan, good! You’ll scrape that up later when you add your liquid (but if it bothers you too much, cut back on the heat and add a few tablespoons of liquid to the onions. But let them brown!)<br />
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<b>Thickener</b><br />
I like using brown rice flour to make a roux, but be careful—brown rice flour browns much faster than wheat flour. Two tablespoons ought to do it, but it depends on how thick you chowder vision is. I’ve seen recipes call for a half a cup of flour or more. This leads me to two subsets of the thickener, potatoes and dairy.<br />
<br />
<b>Potatoes</b><br />
The traditional potato would be a red potato with the skin left on, but I have been experimenting with baking potatoes and gotten some stellar results. I like to use and immersion blender and puree the mixture halfway, before I add any clams. This allows the starch in the potatoes to break down and make the chowder quite a bit thicker. The CI recipe is specifically looking for a potato that <i>doesn’t</i> do this, but... It all depends on what you want. Using a starchy potato and blending part of the soup is a great way to thicken the soup and give it mouth feel without using heavy cream or a lot of flour.<br />
<br />
<b>Dairy</b><br />
The CI recipe uses heavy cream. I take issue with that. While I have no problem with heavy cream, too much fat in the mouth tends to deaden the flavors, and in this instance, I really feel you'd be better off with heal-and-half or whole milk. Clearly if you're trying to make a lower-fat version, you’ll be better off skipping the cram and thickening with starchy potatoes, blending, and perhaps using a bit more flour in the roux or less liquid for the stock. Still, entire regional variations are based on what version of dairy is used—don’t be afraid to experiment!<br />
<br />
<b>Clams</b><br />
This is the part that freaks people out. "I don't know anything about clams!" "I can't get fresh clams!" Nope, won't wash. You can make lovely chowder with canned clams. But there are a few things you do want to look for:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3waX8UHmX4q-Alpsvt2rzKWWlIT0zhGlPSV0jTYGZ7pFIi70QigyWI3PPN1d9i2xrPjloSeiohxb2lKGZgbnDO6K7cxhQleYhx4h6MErOr5pSQjbYnbbEd_6VYj23uS-SM9hQbq43Hlo/s1600-h/0311clams_littleneck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3waX8UHmX4q-Alpsvt2rzKWWlIT0zhGlPSV0jTYGZ7pFIi70QigyWI3PPN1d9i2xrPjloSeiohxb2lKGZgbnDO6K7cxhQleYhx4h6MErOr5pSQjbYnbbEd_6VYj23uS-SM9hQbq43Hlo/s320/0311clams_littleneck.jpg" /></a>The fewer ingredients on the can, the better. Try to avoid canned clams with a lot of phosphates as preservatives. I've found canned clams with citric acid as the preservative work wonderously well. Same with clam juice—the fewer ingredients, the better.<br />
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Clams are mollusks. They have all their bits thrown together under the shell, and when they're processed, all those bits end up in the can. You might not want to think too hard, is what I'm saying. Although do keep an eye out for shell fragments.<br />
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I actually do have access to fresh clams. When I asked how much, in round about figures, seven pounds of littleneck clams might cost, my fishmonger told me he didn't sell clams by the pound, but by the dozen—and it worked out to $50. If you have access to fresh clams cheaper than this, marvelous! If you're not quite ready to blow $50 on a soup, then canned clams will set you back about six bucks.<br />
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<b>Spicing</b><br />
Canned clams and clam juice both contain salt, so consider that before you follow any recipe's recommendations for salting. That said, I feel like if you don't salt the potatoes while they're boiling, the soup won't ever taste right. A little during and then, when the soup is finished, do the final adjustment. There's nothing wrong with keeping the salt content on the low side and letting others salt as they will.<br />
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Pepper, however, is a must. If you've never ground your own peppercorns, now is the time. I think chowder should be peppery, but this means different things to different people. Again, pepper to the not-quite-there and then pass the grinder.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmUwzz1GbMXRy6kv1W4vbpDHJV_aOvZgtwJTQBH81Bq4UYxlfx9dGCDidNGD6pfaiioEYexpy0qLuvr6PYsbDgOEmZg4glUIlxACbkG2a4HKzYwgWWl3M0f-6AvggcBkJZeCvu6qlDfY/s1600-h/0311clam_chowder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVmUwzz1GbMXRy6kv1W4vbpDHJV_aOvZgtwJTQBH81Bq4UYxlfx9dGCDidNGD6pfaiioEYexpy0qLuvr6PYsbDgOEmZg4glUIlxACbkG2a4HKzYwgWWl3M0f-6AvggcBkJZeCvu6qlDfY/s200/0311clam_chowder.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Chowder is a lot more exciting to eat than to photograph. It's um... white and lumpy. Don't be fooled. Beneath this bland exterior is a rich and satisfying flavor experience. Crackers are an absolute must. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Glutino-Gluten-Original-Crackers-Ounce/dp/B001CWV4PA">Glutino</a> has a decent cracker for soups, but just to eat it out of hand it has a strange aftertaste, plus they're a bit pricey. I like the <a href="http://www.ener-g.com/store/detail.aspx?section=6&cat=6&id=70">Ener-G brand</a> myself. Or heck, make your own crackers! This chowder certainly deserves it.<br />
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The link below goes to a page of several different regional recipes that vary in complexity from crock pot to fresh clams. If you are of a more analytical bent, <a href="http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/112/Clam-Chowder-New-England-Style">Cooking for Engineers has a great walk-through for clam chowder</a> as well. The important thing is to try one. March can be cruel with those blustery winds, so fortify yourself. You’ll be happy as a clam.<br />
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<a href="http://gonewengland.about.com/cs/recipes/a/aachowderrecipe.htm">Take me to New England clam chowder nirvana! </a>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-42551498541933123662010-03-04T11:25:00.001-05:002010-03-04T11:26:28.102-05:00Signs of Spring!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEk6Saag78YiZWn8unJRrn8QSK9uTCmTCFbCs9smeitEbbOge_8df91uklAwFCT6C3mpeDIlZNNdndSktIMWVVNHf-vs10OSurQCOPmxxUyS6mFjbutChxuZZ0_4rnKSXHs5jWnHWcoYs/s1600-h/0304crocus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEk6Saag78YiZWn8unJRrn8QSK9uTCmTCFbCs9smeitEbbOge_8df91uklAwFCT6C3mpeDIlZNNdndSktIMWVVNHf-vs10OSurQCOPmxxUyS6mFjbutChxuZZ0_4rnKSXHs5jWnHWcoYs/s320/0304crocus.jpg" /></a></div>On March 1 I spotted my first flower! It's a crocus. Nothing fancy, just some bulbs I got a the hardware store. I confess, my first thought was not, "Oh Joy! A Flower!" but more along the lines of, "What the hell is THAT?"<br />
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It's been a long winter, friends.<br />
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The peach tree is still closed tightly -- and this is good, because the temperatures will be cold enough these next few nights to potentially damage any flower/leaf buds that are too exposed. This is how I lost 2/3 of last year's crop. But I'm not bitter... Somewhere I had read about how in northern states farmers will occasionally pile snow up around the trunks of orchard trees when they know the temperatures are going to drop again, and this is what I did. I don't think I can do<a href="http://cafetor.blogspot.com/2009/03/spring-interrupted.html"> 2 AM tarp covering/snow-poking</a> anymore.<br />
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But when I downloaded the pictures, I found on the camera a picture which I did not take:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPG0_FG3iz7paAL9Aoho8yl521Xvo88V4hmEkoEIP_2wuGklRT0Z21FIiXqzb6IqHjPzlkK7kJS6LwUTa27u2fgynGtjhiAHw4sOCwg9QSCPckd504pH_mYdrQRStdxi8mgB6fVbDu9s/s1600-h/0304smoker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPG0_FG3iz7paAL9Aoho8yl521Xvo88V4hmEkoEIP_2wuGklRT0Z21FIiXqzb6IqHjPzlkK7kJS6LwUTa27u2fgynGtjhiAHw4sOCwg9QSCPckd504pH_mYdrQRStdxi8mgB6fVbDu9s/s320/0304smoker.jpg" /></a></div><br />
MP was poking about in the garage and got around to assembling his new BBQ smoker. Apparently he was proud of his new baby and wanted to record the moment. It looks very... pod-like. And shiny.<br />
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Crocus and smokers -- I ask you, can spring be far behind?Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-81766054375409192422010-02-26T17:36:00.001-05:002010-02-26T17:37:44.795-05:00Wild Strawberries<i>A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!</i><br />
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When I first heard this Zen tale, I was quite young. Nevertheless, I remember thinking, “This is a man with screwed-up priorities. He’s got a tiger on his butt, he’s about to fall off a cliff, and even the mice won’t give him a break. Who CARES about the damn strawberries? Clearly Zen monks have problems with ADD.”<br />
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And there the matter rested for twenty years.<br />
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There’s a phrase from James Clavell’s novel, Shōgun that has stayed with me: if you want to keep something private you have to “whisper it down a well at noon.” There are many people who blog as if they were whispering down a well, but the Internet is no well, <a href="http://www.bspcn.com/2009/04/24/caught-on-facebook/">as countless surprised Facebook users can testify</a>. Anonymity is also no guarantee of privacy; the lights always come on.<br />
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There are no grand lead-ins, there are no excuses. Life is Life—it is Messy and Ungainly, and when it’s not Boring it’s Exciting in ways that make you yearn for Boring. Things happening in my life of late are deeply personal and bring to mind disturbing situations and questions. I’m hardly the first to face these events or questions, and while it would give me great comfort to write about them, it would give me no comfort at all to imagine anyone even remotely connected with these events finding out my thoughts by reading them in this forum. It is both self-centered and foolish to post certain topics on the Internet and pretend that no one will know it was you. Besides, I have never particularly enjoyed art as an excuse for public psychotherapy. That’s why I gave up listening to the radio in the late 90s (Quit whining, suck it up, move on).<br />
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One thing I will say: even as Life is mess and dirty and sometimes makes you angry or sad, it also offers up many other things, some of them quite wonderful—i.e., chocolate-mint macarons.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQybSHRcfWJgtGic8Z4U6KzD6RmDeIN7-tNUvHAj6lcMBiaaBQxpjhiiUXQwtaB5xjOjFsMhu5jHPYD3Vb_CAaajoEb0tQSA_bLrwkSuqZ0-vdppELaX93xGj5J8TRSyQ_x_jj-A5QCo8/s1600-h/0226macarons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQybSHRcfWJgtGic8Z4U6KzD6RmDeIN7-tNUvHAj6lcMBiaaBQxpjhiiUXQwtaB5xjOjFsMhu5jHPYD3Vb_CAaajoEb0tQSA_bLrwkSuqZ0-vdppELaX93xGj5J8TRSyQ_x_jj-A5QCo8/s400/0226macarons.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
All around me different people have sung the praises of these confectionary gems. Distinct from the humble <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroon">American macaroon</a>, these meringue-based treats are decidedly European and undeniably chic. They come in flavors like lavender lemon, raspberry mascarpone, even red bean and green tea.<br />
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They are also reputed to be temperamental, fiendishly tricky, and almost impossible for the home baker to master.<br />
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They’re also gluten-free.<br />
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I made these. They were awesome. I want to tell you all about them. Because although they may not look it from the picture, these macarons tasted of wild strawberries.<br />
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We will always face the twin tigers of the Past and the Future. The yin-yang of Good and Evil will always threaten to gnaw away our hold on an intellectualized Reality. The only thing we have, the only thing that is certain, is Right Now. Taste it.<br />
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It doesn’t matter is that moment is a hug or a drawn out, tiresome complaint; walking into a hospital room or biting into a macaron—be present to the moment you are in, because it is the only thing that is real.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-52345958779433606802010-02-21T16:59:00.002-05:002010-02-23T09:29:36.872-05:00Hey Look! It's a Visual!I'm doing a little experimentation with video embedding. It could add a whole new dimension to my blog -- Live PeachCam!<br />
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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.0.5.swf" w3c="true" flashvars='config={"key":"#$b6eb72a0f2f1e29f3d4","playlist":[{"url":"http://www.archive.org/download/Detour_movie/format=Thumbnail?.jpg","autoPlay":true,"scaling":"fit"},{"url":"http://www.archive.org/download/Detour_movie/Detour_512kb.mp4","autoPlay":false,"accelerated":true,"scaling":"fit","provider":"h264streaming"}],"clip":{"autoPlay":false,"accelerated":true,"scaling":"fit","provider":"h264streaming"},"canvas":{"backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"none"},"plugins":{"audio":{"url":"http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.audio-3.0.3-dev.swf"},"controls":{"playlist":false,"fullscreen":true,"gloss":"high","backgroundColor":"0x000000","backgroundGradient":"medium","sliderColor":"0x777777","progressColor":"0x777777","timeColor":"0xeeeeee","durationColor":"0x01DAFF","buttonColor":"0x333333","buttonOverColor":"0x505050"},"h264streaming":{"url":"http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.h264streaming-3.0.5.swf"}},"contextMenu":[{"View+Detour_movie+at+archive.org":"function()"},"-","Flowplayer 3.0.5"]}'> </embed>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-51075774992941764152009-11-11T16:01:00.000-05:002009-11-11T16:01:01.049-05:00It's RainingI cannot think of a single thing to blog about.<br />
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Mostly because the really exciting things are too personal, and I know my audience. The other problem is that Daylight Savings Time ended, the remnants of Ida are passing through, and it's November.<br />
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My plan to get through this bumpy patch? More movies and Sookie Stackhouse novels.<br />
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Oh yes, and cocoa and toast.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-22514043732670201912009-10-15T11:35:00.008-04:002018-05-31T14:28:01.912-04:00Best Gluten-Free Brownie Recipe Ever!<i>(For those of you who just want the brownies NOW, <a href="#recipe">click here for the recipe.</a> For those of you who enjoy thrilling tales filled with chocolate adventure, read on!)</i><br />
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Yesterday I had one of those “Why the hell is there no chocolate in this house?” moments.<br />
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I was in the middle of looking up the nearest Godiva boutique/store locations when I noticed a promo for their <a href="http://www.godiva.com/catalog/product.aspx?id=2261">Chocolate Chunk Brownies</a> and I was SAVED because I remembered had brownies in the freezer!<br />
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Whew!<br />
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Years ago I was perfectly happy with boxed brownies. I was a Duncan-Hines kind of girl. But somewhere in there I wondered if maybe I could do it better. I found a from-scratch recipe that was divine — particularly because I could choose my own cocoa powder and control the sweetness. Life was Good.<br />
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Until 2003. The year I went gluten-free.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYBqsGd2v3LeBlCpgTTV3xvXNtW5AxzQ41y4imlUVGNx73d9FYLsCACsA8X39a35ITIKna9vRiS_kXCN0rY5gOs-y2UGYLC1hF_4_wEuzX0uLGuDIYSCTzFdFcGYpn335h0AwnAvio5k/s1600-h/101509brownie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYBqsGd2v3LeBlCpgTTV3xvXNtW5AxzQ41y4imlUVGNx73d9FYLsCACsA8X39a35ITIKna9vRiS_kXCN0rY5gOs-y2UGYLC1hF_4_wEuzX0uLGuDIYSCTzFdFcGYpn335h0AwnAvio5k/s320/101509brownie.jpg"></a><br />
</div>Those were the Dark Days, my fudgy friends. Dark days, indeed. Yes, there were some GF brownie mixes, but they cost six bucks and tasted like the bag they came in. I resolved to do better. I took my divine brownie recipe and<b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">I CONVERTED IT</span></span></b> to a GF recipe.<br />
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<i>ZOMG you can’t do that! The chemistry! It won’t work! Think of the children!</i><br />
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Um, yes, you can do this, so let’s talk about chemistry and how I created the Frankenbrownie.<br />
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The easiest recipes to convert from wheat flour to gluten-free flours are those that don’t contain much flour in the first place. With only ½ cup of flour, this recipe fit nicely. Because GF flours have a lower protein content than all-purpose wheat flour, I knew I needed to add xanthan gum or guar gum as a thickener — but not much. Because of the lower protein content, I also knew I should treat the GF flour like cake flour. That means <b>for every 1 cup of all-purpose wheat flour, I would use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of GF flour.</b><br />
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Some people get nervous about GF baking when they see that so many GF recipes call for blending your own flours or contain small amounts of different flours. “You mean I gotta buy three different flours?” Well, no, you don’t gotta, but it can really make a difference in the final product. HOWEVER, because there’s not that much flour in this recipe, there’s a lot of flexibility in which GF flour you use. Eggs and butter provide most of the structure. (Oh yeah, say it with me now: “Eggs and butter provide most of the structure.” Mmm...)<br />
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I have had success with the following flours in this recipe:<br />
<ul><li>A blend of white rice, potato, and tapioca starches (my preferred)</li>
<li>Brown rice flour</li>
<li>Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose GF baking flour (which is not my favorite, because it contains garbanzo bean flour which makes the brownie taste slightly beany, but it is very easily found in stores)</li>
</ul>You can do this. You should do this. Yes, the mixes are better now, but they still cost six bucks. Wouldn’t you rather use your own recipe and control the quality of your ingredients? Aren’t you tired of always refusing baked goods because you don’t want to be poisoned? Doesn’t your allergy-challenged kid deserve a decent tasting treat?<br />
<br />
Oh come on — don’t you miss licking a truly delicious brownie batter off the spoon?<br />
<br />
These brownies might just save your life. Well no, probably not, but they are really tasty.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">***<br />
</div><span style="font-size: large;"><b id="recipe">Rich Cocoa Brownies</b></span><br />
This recipe was originally published in the Oct/Nov 1996 issue of <a href="http://www.finecooking.com/"><i>Fine Cooking</i></a> magazine. Alas, I cannot find the author’s name. This is a fudgy brownie recipe, as opposed to the cakey, frostable type. My notes are in italics.<br />
<br />
Yields 16 brownies <i>More like 9. We are not here for the nutritional value, people.</i><br />
<ul><li>6 oz. (12 Tbs.) unsalted butter</li>
<li>2/3 cup natural or Dutch-process cocoa <i>(I like <a href="http://www.ghirardelli.com/products/cocoa_unsweetened.aspx">Ghirardelli</a>. Now is not a good time to be cheap.)</i></li>
<li>1 1/4 cups sugar <i>( I cut this down to ¾ cups because I like chocolate, not sugar.)</i></li>
<li>1/4 tsp. salt</li>
<li>1tsp. vanilla extract <i>(Gluten-free! Check the label!)</i></li>
<li>3 eggs</li>
<li>2 2/3 oz. (2/3 cup) cake or gluten-free flour, or 2 1/2 oz. (1/2 cup) of all-purpose wheat flour</li>
<li>1/2 tsp. xanthan gum or guar gum <i>(or if you don’t have any, leave it out and see if you like the texture.)</i></li>
<li>1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)</li>
</ul><table cellpadding="2"><tbody>
<tr><td width="50%">Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9 x 9-inch pan. In a 2-qt saucepan, melt the butter, allowing it to get quite hot . Take the pan from the heat and whisk in the cocoa. Let the mixture cool completely.<br />
</td> <td width="50%"><i>Look for steam or the first bubbles on the bottom. <br />
Cooling always baffled me, because...</i><br />
</td></tr>
<tr> <td>Whisk the sugar, salt, and vanilla into the cooled cocoa mixture. Add all the eggs at once (<i>NOW it needs to be cool or you'll scramble the eggs!</i>) and whisk again to combine. <br />
</td> <td><i>...there’s no reason why a little heat should bother any of these ingredients. BTW, before you add the eggs is a really good time to taste the batter and see if everything is going well.</i><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>With a rubber spatula, fold in flour until incorporated. Fold in the nuts. Spread the batter in the pan and bake until a toothpick comes out moist and gooey, but not wet, 18 to 20 min. Be careful not to over-bake the brownies or they’ll toughen. Allow them to cool completely before cutting.<br />
</td> <td><i>I sift my flour and xanthan gum into the batter, then I fold. GF flour can have some funky particulates in it.<br />
The time is dependent on your oven and your own preferences. Yes, it really needs to be a piece of wood and not a metal cake tester because the crumbs won’t stick right on metal. In my oven, I need to go for 22 minutes. Remember heat carryover!</i><br />
</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-89648580522362998012009-10-09T13:45:00.004-04:002009-10-09T14:19:18.683-04:00Inertia: Just Do It<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBYzb-giKLhm_jnpWwJMwnO8jbO4nNzJJUFEJUh7wf3TuN785-Qpc5wxOSQEAas-EWvcPboj6LUS2Tq8i0TxLHYCQ_XQRYCGRaa7SjFIrYigL7RHnWTwbT1NTxim2x6Lks2DUZDo6iCU/s1600-h/1009pen.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBYzb-giKLhm_jnpWwJMwnO8jbO4nNzJJUFEJUh7wf3TuN785-Qpc5wxOSQEAas-EWvcPboj6LUS2Tq8i0TxLHYCQ_XQRYCGRaa7SjFIrYigL7RHnWTwbT1NTxim2x6Lks2DUZDo6iCU/s400/1009pen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390665945045968658" /></a><br />So sometimes the hardest part is the beginning, the just doing it, because inertia is in fact a contagious disease.<br /><br />The anticipatory thinking of a thing, the "I don't wanna" and the "I'll do it tomorrow" often takes longer than (and is worse than) the doing of the thing you're so studiously avoiding. To wit: this post. It will take me 20 minutes to write it, but I've spent two and a half months avoiding it. <br /><br />It's been so long that even my pen has succumbed to inertia (yes, I'm old-fashioned. I can edit at the computer, but I can't write), and I had to rinse the dried ink out of the nib. We get like that, too. We think we're dried up, but we're not; it's just that our creative nibs are clogged with day-to-day crap.<br /><br />Okay, that was a tortured metaphor. Cut me some slack, it's been a while.<br /><br />August was a lost month. We went out of town and the garden dried up, succumbing to squash vine borers (much to the relief of MP) and the weather. August always makes me think of strange things, and this August was no exception. However, to protect both the guilty and the innocent, I won't go into detail. No, it's no good. Don't ask.<br /><br />Okay, here's a hint: F. Scott Fitzgerald's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0543722082/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books">Tender is the Night</a> is a terrible beach read. Remember that.<br /><br />The thing about Just Doing is to bear in mind that it is not the result that matters, but the endeavor itself. At long last you're doing something. Doesn't matter what, or how much; it's more than you did before.<br /><br />Fear can be a compelling reason why we don't do something. I hate calling contractors to do home improvement work. Hate it. What do I know about someone's skills at carpentry? Get cold sweats. But I can not deal with crappy dirt and diseased tomatoes next year, and I will not hump 4 cubic yards of compost one wheelbarrow at a time along one side of the house, out around the back deck, and across the back yard because some cheap nitwit didn't put a gate in the fence on that side of the house. No.<br /><br />I have learned to divide things into smaller and smaller chunks, distilling tasks down to their essence. When faced with fear, the question is this: what is the smallest step I can take in this project without succumbing to mind-numbing fear? Look up names. Choose three. Call one for an appointment. Call another. Get estimates and compare.<br /><br />It is excruciatingly slow. But it is moving forward. Sometimes when things are scary, you have to go that slow. Like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes">Zeno's arrow</a>, you have to fool the frightened part of yourself into thinking you are not moving at all, that everything is fine. You have to reward yourself for tiny acts of bravery. In this way you create a body of accomplishment from which to draw confidence.<br /><br />There are many people in this world who are doing things I would love to be doing. It isn't that they are fundamentally more talented than I am, but they are braver. It is pointless to entertain thoughts of cowardice -- you work with what you get. So what's the smallest thing I can do right now, TODAY, that put's me closer to my goal?<br /><br />Don't dwell. Don't let it become a Big Thing. Just do it -- and then eat a chocolate afterward. Chocolate makes everything less scary.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-11668002481752342232009-07-28T15:32:00.007-04:002009-07-28T15:51:04.743-04:00Peaches: A Pictorial Essay<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRsp1hBgfZiEeS-yzgBKSKnQC2t4kwFLRwEKGLrg5LWqCYG_7vb6AzUXD9HhTsq8G6rNJ3UMoyuRvMKN-fGhjbyMBqB8UrXdo1rI7OamDjywJQP9VDGVLCWuVlCnQpJr3iKcSVMsanP4/s1600-h/0728_peach01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRsp1hBgfZiEeS-yzgBKSKnQC2t4kwFLRwEKGLrg5LWqCYG_7vb6AzUXD9HhTsq8G6rNJ3UMoyuRvMKN-fGhjbyMBqB8UrXdo1rI7OamDjywJQP9VDGVLCWuVlCnQpJr3iKcSVMsanP4/s400/0728_peach01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597401267990994" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wo0VLCLC-oTppfIcuwiBo3hFWKJ20r6_aBFVyi-uLxpCiJwxE0lT0F3iPZZpyCd364imVwSPEWGrIKqeIwYL_Tidxd_byDBkqQcneCUG39zsRyRIZsG7rWcrgugG8zwsbvXGgUY6014/s1600-h/0728_peach02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wo0VLCLC-oTppfIcuwiBo3hFWKJ20r6_aBFVyi-uLxpCiJwxE0lT0F3iPZZpyCd364imVwSPEWGrIKqeIwYL_Tidxd_byDBkqQcneCUG39zsRyRIZsG7rWcrgugG8zwsbvXGgUY6014/s400/0728_peach02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597399659054642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">(What? Every story has a Scary Part. This is mine...)</span><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5dPKZ0UWpDECGgdlxbfHxB4C8c12FN30oJqOzf2sqRBOja2ixVyRIL0fs4oo_M_4WkDW-wq1FT7MgWAhlqm8kTdh67CzkDJlrSKSV_NHDduxjA6m-PbeehjvWlcYP2WRKr5qQEiepYB0/s1600-h/0728_peach03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5dPKZ0UWpDECGgdlxbfHxB4C8c12FN30oJqOzf2sqRBOja2ixVyRIL0fs4oo_M_4WkDW-wq1FT7MgWAhlqm8kTdh67CzkDJlrSKSV_NHDduxjA6m-PbeehjvWlcYP2WRKr5qQEiepYB0/s400/0728_peach03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597392290733954" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7QSnsPoqqCaKof6N_MPWs3PjHZeFAVvw1hvQNw0fjplT1yRjBfsjiMYtjYz9janGGndeoh2OCDloZypHeAjjvnGmQGHchWgm9aqurjdBgNgNeL_l9a9WO_QbIGGu4NAiozX-bXb37ys/s1600-h/0728_peach04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7QSnsPoqqCaKof6N_MPWs3PjHZeFAVvw1hvQNw0fjplT1yRjBfsjiMYtjYz9janGGndeoh2OCDloZypHeAjjvnGmQGHchWgm9aqurjdBgNgNeL_l9a9WO_QbIGGu4NAiozX-bXb37ys/s400/0728_peach04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597255358814050" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Boiling for one minute then plunging them in ice water <br />makes stone fruits very easy to peel.</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggNm8UV2Un2dVSbY74K8bdKxjIqS_3UGkd-LxoFTn6f-_7ytnNYGmzKd4ykLAlogmpLHpyfluuB715FIkzW5AQmgdKiJtDHfCZbdVUJP2OCs_vPWcXd9BbMjD_JcHfDbGhtGbMdCKmVRk/s1600-h/0728_peach05.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggNm8UV2Un2dVSbY74K8bdKxjIqS_3UGkd-LxoFTn6f-_7ytnNYGmzKd4ykLAlogmpLHpyfluuB715FIkzW5AQmgdKiJtDHfCZbdVUJP2OCs_vPWcXd9BbMjD_JcHfDbGhtGbMdCKmVRk/s400/0728_peach05.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597253610415538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Forty-Five minutes later...</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9MVjcugURfZC7nKUg8Z6tjiPvKSYKo96PKg9Ytk5S_rc_P8qf6VWZkwuVi3BLI1jFnMHB15drL45pYPvEzIYHx3QFFGJ9jzeFYb54CqF3vIry6BQQ5zMYOTX32EjYww5dJZ3ZhFLOkw/s1600-h/0728_peach06.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9MVjcugURfZC7nKUg8Z6tjiPvKSYKo96PKg9Ytk5S_rc_P8qf6VWZkwuVi3BLI1jFnMHB15drL45pYPvEzIYHx3QFFGJ9jzeFYb54CqF3vIry6BQQ5zMYOTX32EjYww5dJZ3ZhFLOkw/s400/0728_peach06.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597248126758178" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-npEIniG_vcxSnjeHhX_-ak4BW9C0waiGDdfnkGlMbPEgR9IvhpZfe0jRvl0txqPcPemT8Jj86cwFaVKfCFIIp4TqK_lVPpmmdvHd-0EJyA69STVsg46dickRLFajVdvQYnTzMQrs7Y/s1600-h/0728_peach07.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-npEIniG_vcxSnjeHhX_-ak4BW9C0waiGDdfnkGlMbPEgR9IvhpZfe0jRvl0txqPcPemT8Jj86cwFaVKfCFIIp4TqK_lVPpmmdvHd-0EJyA69STVsg46dickRLFajVdvQYnTzMQrs7Y/s400/0728_peach07.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597245055261506" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4WXvwpDS0mSpE_bZ48Qytef0ZQtztiKKgEhAk5BV7X8lXB4sYBt4DGVpFCDDl5ayQ-EZDy_SPVI2wETHjN7fPqsFjsw0jxNPxOCy6BAQmN04yMq3XxKsoHPC0l9qMKctzeiUpXzY0cE/s1600-h/0728_peach08.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4WXvwpDS0mSpE_bZ48Qytef0ZQtztiKKgEhAk5BV7X8lXB4sYBt4DGVpFCDDl5ayQ-EZDy_SPVI2wETHjN7fPqsFjsw0jxNPxOCy6BAQmN04yMq3XxKsoHPC0l9qMKctzeiUpXzY0cE/s400/0728_peach08.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363597238798726146" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">After enacting the "No Peach Left Behind" program, the official Peach Total was 11.56 pounds, or about 50 peaches. While this was significantly less than last year's total of about 30 pounds, it was still enough for 6.5 jars of jam and the cobbler above.<br /><br />Yes, it was as good as it looks.</span>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-22587085485916980432009-07-04T14:05:00.010-04:002009-07-04T14:29:48.203-04:00Urban Garden Tour<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">A cashier at Meijers once told me that the Fourth of July is the “Wednesday of Summer.” I hold onto that thought, first because it is true, and second to remind myself that sages exist in undreamed of places. — Naked Latte: Conversations Overheard</span></span><br /><br />Is it tacky to quote from your own novel? Hope not. But what’s really unforgivable is that it’s the 4th of July weekend and I haven’t said anything about my garden this year! So let’s get down to it:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tomatoes</span> – Let’s get this out of the way, okay? I thought I would be clever this year and scatter the spent grass clippings through the garden to keep the weeds down. Instead, I think I gave the tomatoes cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). They look horrible. MP’s roma tomato (for salsa) isn’t too bad — it’s got fruit that should be ready in the next two weeks — and the sungold is chugging along okay, but the Paul Robesons will be lucky to get any fruit at all. CMV is carried by about 800 different plants, so undoubtedly I brought it in with the spent grass clippings. MP pointed out, “If it’s carried in 800 plants, it’s not really a cucumber virus, is it?” He’s right, too — the cucumbers don’t have it at all. The tomato that looks best? A feral sungold that sprouted from last year’s seed in the compost pile.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqXCYQQb6oNphP-zZaovC9wLF0idoqLU0ZmbxsDnpzafooI2_rv8chI3W2kGTQNy3vKBxGMhL8baCKhtacE2WIZuVEvCkj7QF_1iG0ZPmA7iatWuxkQ1BTDPQCX88yLY2x6Qbkr_Vfc8/s1600-h/0704tomato.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqXCYQQb6oNphP-zZaovC9wLF0idoqLU0ZmbxsDnpzafooI2_rv8chI3W2kGTQNy3vKBxGMhL8baCKhtacE2WIZuVEvCkj7QF_1iG0ZPmA7iatWuxkQ1BTDPQCX88yLY2x6Qbkr_Vfc8/s400/0704tomato.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354669719292898946" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kale</span> – I think I may have hit my kale stride. It looks pretty good and tastes great. Needs to be spread out more, though. That’s my fault for crowding them. Believe it or not, this weekend it’s time to replant the kale for the winter season. This stuff has been growing since February. Cabbage loopers provide an extra protein boost!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lettuce</span> – I’m so proud of my lettuce. It looks like lettuce! Pretty green bibb lettuce for nice salads. I’d love to tell you how fascinating it tastes but… It’s lettuce. Green. Leafy. And that’s about it. I’m actually growing some stuff in a container, but this horrible little hornworm devoured it, so it’s recuperating (the hornworm, however, will not recuperate.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgNSJHaTDIH7ntzL0vWkgTpLWKmhe5iO-LSipDdjM23cueL11vJuXu3EP_xciY6o0Si7cJwg8iYdNOxZaQ_Vqux73PxXeZvI7pW7ZdBI1rQW4VDDfpRIJ7rICECc7D-hWvY5to0tZ9C0k/s1600-h/0704kale_lettuce.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgNSJHaTDIH7ntzL0vWkgTpLWKmhe5iO-LSipDdjM23cueL11vJuXu3EP_xciY6o0Si7cJwg8iYdNOxZaQ_Vqux73PxXeZvI7pW7ZdBI1rQW4VDDfpRIJ7rICECc7D-hWvY5to0tZ9C0k/s400/0704kale_lettuce.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354669860273507234" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cucumber</span> – a strange cucumber malaise made me think that I would have no cucumbers at all this year. They just wouldn’t grow. Only one out of six lived, so I planted two in pots and watched them carefully… and then one died. So I have a largish one and a smaller one, and this may actually be enough. Moderation is important when dealing with curcubits, as we shall see… The reason this image looks so green is that the light is green under all those leaves.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Plumgranny(Queen Anne’s Pocket-Melon)</span> – I grow these for amusement, as they have no culinary value. They smell good. They remind my grandmother of her childhood in Appalachia, so I send her a few. On the plus side, with the tomatoes being so puny, the plumgrannies have room to spread out and they look great. Lots of flowers, but I’m not seeing any little green melons yet.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtpXjg3tNyLSbhKQgYXSwRsD1MY2i1mI6X3gYlhnrJ-bnBP7kyhRWdX5hlLcNoE8hvK6PqRdgEkrACUTFOXZuqvL6aJqrfnohcNpTMLQVAySiLAWFYKOeg-3ievYVgl1kbZtwYsYg5h80/s1600-h/0704cuke.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtpXjg3tNyLSbhKQgYXSwRsD1MY2i1mI6X3gYlhnrJ-bnBP7kyhRWdX5hlLcNoE8hvK6PqRdgEkrACUTFOXZuqvL6aJqrfnohcNpTMLQVAySiLAWFYKOeg-3ievYVgl1kbZtwYsYg5h80/s400/0704cuke.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354670057256799682" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Butternut Squash</span> – These would probably be doing better if they weren’t overrun by the other squashes. I have pruned back the zucchini and they are doing a little better, but ultimately, I don’t think I’d buy the Burpee’s Butterbush again; if it’s going to survive in the garden, it needs a lot of chutzpah. Still, we’ll probably get a few tiny ones for late-summer risotto. Their flavor is really good.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pipan(Patty-Pan) Squash</span> – Last year we really got into grilling these, so I planted some, and now they are fighting with the zucchini to see which will rule the garden. They look like alien artifacts, vegetal gifts from extra-terrestrial visitors. Actually, all the squashes are so fascinating I think they’re worthy of their own post. We had so many this past week I gave some away to a friend to who promised to take them to a party with him as a conversation piece to pick up women. Good Luck, kid!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Zucchini</span> – We like zucchini. We like to grill it. This is good, because now we are up to our eyebrows in it. “Don’t plant too many!” MP warned me. “They say one is enough!” I planted three hills… with three plants each, but some died early… so I replanted them… They’re fine now. What’s your address? Do you like zucchini? Because MP shot down the “Let’s brew zucchini beer!” suggestion real quick and now I’m stuck for ideas.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_2RDQV-NWnMWRkWFQHDRnTKBrNpyUgo5XG1iEZGzYsBjIIgoyzLTZTwuLMtYl5U2XzPBj-f_ydTeQzsedXlfAyfFkM1RITbAUqCujeV6XHdpKNPcTEAz-r6rZum81VjrWTfxych4ZkE/s1600-h/0704squash.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_2RDQV-NWnMWRkWFQHDRnTKBrNpyUgo5XG1iEZGzYsBjIIgoyzLTZTwuLMtYl5U2XzPBj-f_ydTeQzsedXlfAyfFkM1RITbAUqCujeV6XHdpKNPcTEAz-r6rZum81VjrWTfxych4ZkE/s400/0704squash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354670237198570578" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beans</span> – Alas, the beans have disease issues, too, as evidenced by their quilted-looking leaves. It has not seemed to inhibit their will to produce, however; this year I’ve grown some of the longest beans ever. These are pole beans (as opposed to bush beans), which I like for their flavor and the fact that they take up less horizontal space.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Zinnias</span> – I grew these from seed saved from last year. Need I say more?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfoO9hWvCY-VPJaF-O8xTahstJVMdEUofb1szVXBQq3mxWgjQuMD4aqkzTgPK1KBdwSl_enW6UR6FK9T3WZ9ELjvfNO5c7njhnTQLwiHGzBxIK9HKQXROCxEBqYtMBXQS4L2PXo60xjpc/s1600-h/0704zinnia.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfoO9hWvCY-VPJaF-O8xTahstJVMdEUofb1szVXBQq3mxWgjQuMD4aqkzTgPK1KBdwSl_enW6UR6FK9T3WZ9ELjvfNO5c7njhnTQLwiHGzBxIK9HKQXROCxEBqYtMBXQS4L2PXo60xjpc/s400/0704zinnia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354670371418023154" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Peaches</span> – Yes, I know. You have been waiting for this information breathlessly. The good news: No signs of oriental fruit moths this year! I got on the spray schedule early and have stuck to it. At this point we are about 20 days from harvest. Some peaches have begun to blush, and I won’t be spraying them with bentonite clay again. The bad news: some peaches have also begun to split, probably due to uneven watering, though I don’t know. Alas, bacterial spot is a problem of Elberta peaches, and the leaf-drop can look quite alarming. Water conditions aren’t helping. All told I’ve lost ½ to ¾ of the crop from the freeze and the initial drop of peaches. The soil around here is terrible; I need to fertilize next year earlier and more heavily.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9b9OGEKc-biW2JiDTbcxwkl1Iz0HEcKxopFF_gd207ic9WjUIvY2rYDBZNjC3-ZhHLF8w95JE0Bxyt5-um2swDjgvy5IG2Zn05ZNw2gw7fBfTg3_LiLXXQrpBu8GESltOj4-Rmf_Oa8/s1600-h/0704peach1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9b9OGEKc-biW2JiDTbcxwkl1Iz0HEcKxopFF_gd207ic9WjUIvY2rYDBZNjC3-ZhHLF8w95JE0Bxyt5-um2swDjgvy5IG2Zn05ZNw2gw7fBfTg3_LiLXXQrpBu8GESltOj4-Rmf_Oa8/s400/0704peach1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354670522819749554" border="0" /></a><br />That said, I still will have some delicious peaches and enough to make a few cobblers and cakes with. Don’t know if I’ll be canning any PeachStuff this year. I have this completely unfounded fear that the neighborhood kids will come and steal my peaches, but MP pointed out that most kids don’t even know what a peach looks like. That and… well, my peaches are ugly and covered with weird white crap. Steal them? Probably not.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">MP’s Pet Pepper (The Drama Queen)</span> – Yes! This plant is dying! Right before our eyes! Every day! Why don’t we feed it? Why don’t we water it? Don’t we love it? And so on. Dramatic Vegetables can be highly entertaining. It doesn’t help that it’s up on the porch in the 100 degree heat, but really, peppers are sooo excitable. Lack of water is making these jalapenos hot as hell.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxxnL7VAq50VubSZ7gtORTK6rPN8ZE_FH-tnCwhBojulEZUri2bqmn3wkTzNCi4adNPCS0k65dxVhhYhOot7Mg02hv99w0TpRH4Hph91gJ6ZVSdxlbcK_O6m03Dppilj_v0O1s_EC18I/s1600-h/0704pepper.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRxxnL7VAq50VubSZ7gtORTK6rPN8ZE_FH-tnCwhBojulEZUri2bqmn3wkTzNCi4adNPCS0k65dxVhhYhOot7Mg02hv99w0TpRH4Hph91gJ6ZVSdxlbcK_O6m03Dppilj_v0O1s_EC18I/s400/0704pepper.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354670663827281714" border="0" /></a><br />This is the season I like best, every morning going out with my knife (to fend off the zucchini) and my trug (to haul everything back to the house) and seeing what is new. The bees are extremely happy. I never worry that they will sting me, only that one might run me over. Sure enough, this morning I bent down at the wrong moment and got thwacked upside the head.<br /><br />Summer is alive. 'Tis the season to get messy in it.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-41330939782368783152009-06-25T11:42:00.006-04:002009-06-25T12:09:07.910-04:00Anti-Hero by VillainessSome women spend their 401K plans on designer handbags. Some want jewelry. Others have a particular weakness for shoes.<br /><br />I go mad for soap.<br /><br />But don’t think I’m easy. Clearly one can find soap anywhere; what I seek is much more subtle and difficult to define. Part of it is scent — I like perfume, too — but there is something about a bar of good-smelling soap lathering up like whipped cream that I seek out. Is it the sensuality? A psychological need to cleanse myself? The fact that I grew up in a house with water so hard all our towels were stained rust-red with iron?<br /><br />One thing is certain — this is not the kind of obsession you can discuss freely. Still, there are those who have known me long enough to know which passions make me tick, and when they see interesting crossovers, they send word. The phrase “I saw this soap named ‘anti-hero’ and it made me think of you” dropped into a friend’s casual e-mail sounded too good to be true.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmIzpOkZP9V6Q2VaFh_iUDZyx9LP8SuLfqr6rDz2mp3t94zVQAlt6evNmPiFbG_pQTnfX-ds_Tm7mcoWR4ARXov0W2Ft4aEUxtNCFEb_i_dVBxsWtjrTnyzXwUvNCJlzczQK8y8W-puw/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 154px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmIzpOkZP9V6Q2VaFh_iUDZyx9LP8SuLfqr6rDz2mp3t94zVQAlt6evNmPiFbG_pQTnfX-ds_Tm7mcoWR4ARXov0W2Ft4aEUxtNCFEb_i_dVBxsWtjrTnyzXwUvNCJlzczQK8y8W-puw/" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />With my first glimpse of the <a href="http://www.villainess.net/">Villainess home page</a> I knew I was not in some pink girly candy-land of sickly scented personal products. For starters, the look and feel of the web page can only be described as 19th Century smoky boudoir — aged parchment and skulls over a burgundy tooled-leather background. In addition to selling soap, some of their products are Whipped! (body butter) and Smooch! (body scrub), and also perfume oils in ampoules. (“Historically, the ampoule has held the blood of martyrs, anointing oils, and medicinal solutions. We have misappropriated the delicate vials to hold our equally precious Extrait, and carefully accented each stoppered bottle with our hand-stamped monogram and a weathered copper skull.”) <br /><br />Describing their scent catalog, the founders state “…we aim for that ultimately unique Villainess touch. A bizarre juxtaposition of scent that will create (or trigger) a vivid olfactory memory.” The scents have names like “Asphyxiate,” “Crushed,” and “Silk & Cyanide.”<br /><br />Sometimes I wonder what my friends think of when they think of me…<br /><br />The main page listing their soaps states: “Sometimes a girl needs a change of pace. Or maybe she's had a trying day at the office, juggling evil schemes. That's when you pull out the big guns and spoil yourself.” It seems the people at Villainess understood me.<br />This is how they describe their soap:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pjsQoofPnqWacRzXpp1jqqFO4Shf9VWE45bMeuxTago5k9KS07AuFfjg8H7NDVziLMS9N7tRBFqs9MUD1rVY0P2IxPkMOybrjUY57MOk29MUMnYDH8rOEmKHAWQPOckp0LNdijcp4w8/"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pjsQoofPnqWacRzXpp1jqqFO4Shf9VWE45bMeuxTago5k9KS07AuFfjg8H7NDVziLMS9N7tRBFqs9MUD1rVY0P2IxPkMOybrjUY57MOk29MUMnYDH8rOEmKHAWQPOckp0LNdijcp4w8/" border="0" alt="" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Full Name:</span> <a href="http://www.villainess.net/antihero.html">Antihero</a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Weight / Height:</span> 3.5oz (99g) / 3 in<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Colour:</span> Soft grey suede.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Distinguishing Features:</span> Absolutely smooth, sheer, silken lather swirled with pitch black Australian clay.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Characteristic Scent:</span> Well-worn sweaty leather, the acrid smoke of cigarettes, and a soft side of honey and vanilla.<br /><br />Cigarette smoke and leather? In a soap? As an M.A. in English Lit with an emphasis on the portrayal of the hero throughout history, how could I say no?<br /><br />“Anti-hero” is a sledgehammer to my limbic system. It smells like a woman, the kind of woman wears what she wants and smokes where she wants and doesn’t give a damn anymore what people think. And yet… there is also a softer note, something that reminds me of being utterly depressed and enveloped in a really good hug, smelling the smoke in her clothes with another perfume — a yin-yang animal, organically floral sweet scent like… Hope? Every time I smell it I have a vision of the café where I drank coffee and spent endless hours talking about my M.A. thesis while this woman smoked, nodded, and quietly listened to—<br /><br />Oh my God. I just now realized I’m talking about Em. Somehow they captured how my best friend Em smelled in 1992.<br /><br />Wow. Crap. Em… Now I’m totally thrown. Well then! “A vivid olfactory memory.” They weren’t lying. Be careful what you wish for.<br /><br />In addition to the soap I also ordered some Whipped! in Paradise Misplaced (“Sweetly creamed coconut with touches of mango offset by crisp green tea”) and Smooch! in Krakatoa (“Flashes of exotic foliage… amidst slightly more domestic fruits…and an explosive burst of citrus). I’m pleased to say that all three items were really lush-feeling and wonderful, probably owing in large part to their use of high-end ingredients like palm oil, shea butter and cherry kernel oil.<br /><br />The next scent I’d like to try? “<a href="http://www.villainess.net/product.php?productid=84&cat=1&page=1">Villainess</a>” — “Sheer pearly grey shot with crimson…. Our signature scent — all ball gowns and combat boots. Raw, smokey [sic] leather and sweet vanilla musk engulfed in a sheer haze of exotic florals — ylang, neroli, jasmine, lilac and tuberose.”<br /><br />And if you like that, check out the description for "<a href="http://www.villainess.net/bathory.html">Bathory</a>.”Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-2391860875204386212009-06-03T12:03:00.007-04:002009-06-04T10:10:22.357-04:00Having Cake and Not Eating it, Either<div style="float:right; margin:0 0 0 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; font-size:x-small; font-style:italic;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/_sk/3476643420/"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyKqeVGcPvVKOuI6c5v4g91kdE_fzWrRB1Q6jEjfA0SHPXUzK7Ugm2KLn87Sdws7j5AsucHcqR62VaIz13HliXnBK5BjxN5fwO489CCdwmtdqsFRDyzz1kjDohpOgE8xITAdW9bjKbzRg/s400/cake2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343135443744641938" /></a><p><br />Can you believe that this is not a real cake? It is a miniature in polymer clay stolen from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/_sk/">PetitPlat by sk's Flickr photostream</a>.</p></div>Wheat is everywhere. I deal with it. It’s the people I want to backhand.<br /><br />The other night someone brought some really lovely sandwiches and cake to class — beautifully packaged and artfully arranged, clearly handmade and very thoughtful. The sandwiches were wraps and small croissants, and the layer cake was chocolate with sliced strawberries pressed into the sides of the real <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/vanilla-buttercream-frosting?lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=recipecontent_food">buttercream</a> icing. (none of that <a href="http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,176,159182-243202,00.html">sugar-Crisco crap</a>. I can tell.) I appreciate good food even when I can’t eat it.<br /><br />My friend stood there, handing out sandwiches. “Why aren’t you eating any?”<br /><br />“The wheat thing.”<br /><br />“Well you can eat the insides. Just take the bread off.”<br /><br />There are a few things wrong with this approach:<br />1) And do what with the insides? Eat chicken salad out of my hands?<br /> <br />2) You can take the meat out of the sandwich but you cannot get the bread off the meat. I tried that when I first when gluten-free and realized the next day just how badly that doesn’t work. (And for the record, if there’s pasta in a soup, you can’t “eat around it.”)<br /><br />3) What an incredibly flippant, ignorant thing to say to someone when you KNOW she’s allergic to wheat. Nothing like being zinged by a friend.<br /><br />“No, I can’t just take the insides out,” I replied, “Ask your son’s girlfriend, the one who’s so allergic to nuts, how she feels about eating something that’s touched peanuts.”<br /><br />“Oh, yeah…” my friend said. Maybe it made her think about what she said, I don’t know. I left it at that.<br /><br />This exchange is at the forefront of my mind because I have written a really pertinent article about this VERY SAME TOPIC, and I can’t find a publisher.<br /> <br />It seems our local newspaper (and I live in a metro area of 1.2 million people) no longer has the staff to accept reader submissions, even after I told the editor I would do the piece for free. And then three days after I called the paper laid off 75 people, so I know she wasn’t just trying to get rid of me.<br /><br />So here you are — my article, for free! — and I hope that whether you’re the hostess or the guest, you find something useful.Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364831958640974771.post-30705430407136195522009-06-03T11:57:00.005-04:002009-06-04T10:09:13.702-04:00Entertaining with Food Allergies<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:small;" >(All photos are from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/_sk/">PetitPlat by sk's photostream</a> on Flickr. Check out <a href="http://petitplatbysk.blogspot.com/">her wonderful blog</a> and more of her stunning polymer clay creations.)</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-wQJOhbjUgX0pTmhkWNQhxdUExEtqY5zEiWGvS1bMztM-PJG45bHdANrYmBsA_6jS8Wlur2UXGMZ1hmpMWxDUWqLJmUpcpOWsCUWclYlc9oKcTCG3kmslSIJWdzlKI94d3Du6yioeyFg/s1600-h/06pizza.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-wQJOhbjUgX0pTmhkWNQhxdUExEtqY5zEiWGvS1bMztM-PJG45bHdANrYmBsA_6jS8Wlur2UXGMZ1hmpMWxDUWqLJmUpcpOWsCUWclYlc9oKcTCG3kmslSIJWdzlKI94d3Du6yioeyFg/s400/06pizza.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343471158330945250" border="0" /></a>It seems like everyone has a food allergy these days, and that makes entertaining difficult. A good hostess instinctively knows that poisoning one’s guests is a no-no, but with so many different allergies to navigate, how can one plan an inclusive menu? And on the other side of the equation, if you’re a guest with a food allergy, how do you inform a hostess about your allergy without coming across as bossy?<br /><br />It doesn’t help that the word “allergy” is thrown around a lot. The American Academy of Allergy Asthma &Immunology defines a “food allergy” as specifically involving immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. Symptoms such as hives, swelling of the lips and tongue or vomiting often occur shortly after ingesting the offending food. Anaphylactic shock is when an immune response is so severe that blood pressure drops suddenly and airways narrow, blocking normal breathing. If someone in anaphylactic shock doesn’t immediately use an EpiPen (a one-shot dose of epinephrine) or go to an emergency room, they could die. The World Allergy Organization estimates that each year 150 Americans die from food-related anaphylaxis. Peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish are the most likely to trigger such a severe reaction.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiMhYYj3bl2PBGRLNuRoAS2H8Ki91Q815vexbTQDek8masjAtecVSM9FiinSH-94mUizx9UzBKgrPxUhxRpJyOH6h0WfJSv1CH_L4J2qkCHIvU5ZYvEPSJMM0gXuwFKcxQyqLrrdyMhH0/s1600-h/06fish.jpg"><img style="margin: 0 10px 10px 0; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiMhYYj3bl2PBGRLNuRoAS2H8Ki91Q815vexbTQDek8masjAtecVSM9FiinSH-94mUizx9UzBKgrPxUhxRpJyOH6h0WfJSv1CH_L4J2qkCHIvU5ZYvEPSJMM0gXuwFKcxQyqLrrdyMhH0/s400/06fish.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343471015648528178" border="0" /></a>If eating a certain food causes an immune response that does not involve IgE antibodies, it is not considered an “allergy,” but an “intolerance” — although when someone is experiencing several hours of “digestive distress” (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), medical definitions of “allergy” seem rather quaint. Some food intolerances cause chronic health issues, such as the inability of the body to absorb certain nutrients (which is often the case when someone is allergic to wheat).<br /><br />If the biology behind food allergies and intolerances hasn’t convinced you to hang up your apron, then take heart — the best advice for dealing with a food allergy is the simplest. Your Momma was right: everything comes down to good manners. Whether you’re a hostess or a guest, put yourself in the other’s shoes for a moment and consider how both your assumptions and requests might sound.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDOWQLoU1bZZgn1Sgc8OmjvRuroUoGuZl6q9_f1UFssU6OBTTKZPxhw4S9gUZqSoHSJHjyoRZBXjzTRzV5oShZVGX7SrEb0P0JtG_e8snnaM725oGRcbn8ollOVmt8Pw8Nh1TFLLBBKY/s1600-h/06waffles.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDOWQLoU1bZZgn1Sgc8OmjvRuroUoGuZl6q9_f1UFssU6OBTTKZPxhw4S9gUZqSoHSJHjyoRZBXjzTRzV5oShZVGX7SrEb0P0JtG_e8snnaM725oGRcbn8ollOVmt8Pw8Nh1TFLLBBKY/s400/06waffles.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343471158209418978" border="0" /></a>For a hostess, knowing what to do means understanding why you’re entertaining in the first place. It sounds strange and anthropological, but think about it — the purpose of having people over for a meal is about creating a group experience centered around sharing food. If someone can’t share the food, they can’t share the experience. The smaller the group, the more obvious it is that someone is not eating the same thing as everyone else. It changes to chemistry of the gathering by making the guest with the allergy feel left out and the hostess feel inadequate, and that’s not good.<br /><br />So by all means, if you are hosting less than twelve people ask your guests if they have food allergies. If someone does, ask for menu suggestions or if there’s a dish they would like to bring. By getting input before the event you can be sure there are foods all your guests can share. And unless you have an allergy to something a guest brought, make a point to try it — it’s an inclusive gesture your guest will appreciate, and you might learn a new recipe.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1qCXlR2_p8tLnUOAs5CW5cDPCv_yDrM7hWYg4hDBMwumLi9I_jp2Y9V2dvtRAnhphYoQavFxV3HQCJ9KBl_u07-qId_6ZaqqLQt7I6a8Can4c55OT2cGrUYz40_GcFCfwVZZTnUiakw/s1600-h/06breakfast.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1qCXlR2_p8tLnUOAs5CW5cDPCv_yDrM7hWYg4hDBMwumLi9I_jp2Y9V2dvtRAnhphYoQavFxV3HQCJ9KBl_u07-qId_6ZaqqLQt7I6a8Can4c55OT2cGrUYz40_GcFCfwVZZTnUiakw/s400/06breakfast.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343471004293746226" border="0" /></a>If you are hosting a larger meal or a party with a buffet, assume you will have one or two guests who have food allergies and plan accordingly. The most common allergies are eggs, milk, nuts, peanuts, soy, tree nuts and wheat/gluten, but this is hardly a complete list! When planning the menu, remember that less-processed food is better than pre-packaged and simple is better. If the food is catered, talk to the provider and explain the need for options. If at all possible label the foods or be sure that the servers are aware of which dishes contain what and are prepared to answer questions.<br /><br />You may not learn about a guest’s allergy until the event itself. Take a guest around and discreetly point out safe foods for their particular concern. Save containers and packaging for ingredient lists so if a guest asks a question you can read labels and be certain.<br /><br />No matter what size the gathering is, do not telegraph to the entirety of the party that the reason Jane isn’t eating the green goddess salad dressing is because it will put her in the powder room for the next three hours if she has so much as a forkful. That’s Jane’s business, so let her tell if she chooses to. If other guests want to know why Jane is only eating vinegar and oil dressing, breezy, evasive answers are all you need give — and then offer to pass the vinegar and oil.<br /><br />If a guest asks you to provide detailed explanations of ingredients, do not take it personally. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWweAHQ2jZxIxBDIG4r-i_5D_MNHwsVBjtxg5LZLWqipg1buMIzF60sIhk0TTu1nXLK5GLJDc7mRmF1VgiWkMe4dGyc1GdTZI0JtjkftGhcltYRfLenl3-LHR_hUOpDShO5YR3X_SlIDQ/s1600-h/06cheese.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWweAHQ2jZxIxBDIG4r-i_5D_MNHwsVBjtxg5LZLWqipg1buMIzF60sIhk0TTu1nXLK5GLJDc7mRmF1VgiWkMe4dGyc1GdTZI0JtjkftGhcltYRfLenl3-LHR_hUOpDShO5YR3X_SlIDQ/s400/06cheese.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343471004071450322" border="0" /></a>Eating away from home with food allergies is difficult. If you’ve never dealt with a food allergy yourself, you may not realize the consequences of eating certain foods or the level of care required to ensure that a food is “safe.” When a guest asks you questions, remember that undoubtedly this is someone who has suffered “digestive distress” (or something worse) in the past and wants to avoid it in the future. If a guest’s behavior seems particularly dictatorial or unreasonable, remember: you have the option of not inviting them to the next function, but ignoring food allergies is not an option for them.<br /><br />If you have a food allergy and are invited to dine at someone’s home, you need to say something. Your friends probably already know, but co-workers and casual acquaintances may not. Telling a host you have a food allergy isn’t being pushy; you’re helping him avoid potential embarrassment and giving yourself the opportunity to dine safely. It doesn’t matter how many times you say, “No really, I’m fine” — no host will feel good watching you consume only a glass of chardonnay and a lettuce leaf.<br /><br />As soon as you receive an invitation, give the host a call or drop an email and explain the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCDOOJJq-Fq9hLvYhLRj_eU0UuTJnJE-eSwWy6mzctePb7ukI_hmv3RkrPmY-pDfJZgf56z2WniT1lZGsdq3Nyq_XxGsQKWLMd828OTTrx-vvWMrSpNa_ShyphenhyphenWKXEmcx5YV5tppOfeaxzA/s1600-h/06grilling.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCDOOJJq-Fq9hLvYhLRj_eU0UuTJnJE-eSwWy6mzctePb7ukI_hmv3RkrPmY-pDfJZgf56z2WniT1lZGsdq3Nyq_XxGsQKWLMd828OTTrx-vvWMrSpNa_ShyphenhyphenWKXEmcx5YV5tppOfeaxzA/s400/06grilling.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343472151417909810" border="0" /></a>situation — simply. Unless anaphylactic shock is a serious possibility there’s no need to go into deep biological detail; just say that an allergy to a particular food is a concern and you wanted him to be aware of it. Some allergies are easier to work around than others; by speaking up you may assist in his decision to serve shrimp or chicken.<br /><br />However, do consider that your host may already have very definite ideas about the menu and your food allergy may put an unexpected kink in those plans. So instead of just saying what you can’t have, offer to bring a dish you can have that fits in with what’s being served. You might even make the offer to arrive early and help prepare dishes with alternative ingredients so you can eat them, too.<br /><br />If the gathering is at a restaurant, call ahead or check the Internet to find out what options you have and make arrangements with the kitchen staff ahead of time. More restaurants are becoming aware of allergy challenges and work hard to come up with suitable menu items that <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mkoPpw67dtUaBwB9mdpLoljNh2mdz1ocf_Om1iTyjRBN4iJeP8-ZTlVaB3eGn4hiF_pPnh_pDtwOqwpwHhLwQrSCIJHBQTl-L_gG8fkp-MFhW79XDUE-l4mnYiHQEFy2cNFwHTOceKk/s1600-h/06bread.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mkoPpw67dtUaBwB9mdpLoljNh2mdz1ocf_Om1iTyjRBN4iJeP8-ZTlVaB3eGn4hiF_pPnh_pDtwOqwpwHhLwQrSCIJHBQTl-L_gG8fkp-MFhW79XDUE-l4mnYiHQEFy2cNFwHTOceKk/s400/06bread.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343472152945342546" border="0" /></a>eliminate offending foods. If an event is catered find a member of the staff and ask questions, and although it may seem forward, be one of the first in line to avoid cross-contamination from misplaced serving utensils.<br /><br />As a guest with a food allergy someone will certainly offer you something you cannot eat. Some people are comfortable being the ambassadors of their particular allergy and enjoy educating others, while some people wish they didn’t have to deal with food allergies and don’t want to talk about it. Decide beforehand how you want to respond, and learn to say a simple “No, Thank-You” gracefully. Even if you are asked specifically “So what happens when you do eat eggs?” keep in mind that while everyone is eating is probably not the time to discuss the biological details of your particular allergic reaction.<br /><br />Accept that your host may not really understand the level of attention required to insure that <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFghvUZBlT06kQLFEb9LIvv-gdOGA3kG6Hq0eeLlBas_hef2GDIcy6UltssHEpCWTV2dQS7davLZI8cHPJz271DbRgdV2Oe0zxiQZy7ZGB2NamoZsGywWsug-QtQQf4WQwl8guOlktpoU/s1600-h/06mexican.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFghvUZBlT06kQLFEb9LIvv-gdOGA3kG6Hq0eeLlBas_hef2GDIcy6UltssHEpCWTV2dQS7davLZI8cHPJz271DbRgdV2Oe0zxiQZy7ZGB2NamoZsGywWsug-QtQQf4WQwl8guOlktpoU/s400/06mexican.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343472157446239138" border="0" /></a>foods are safe for you and do not push the issue is he seems reluctant to change plans or accept help. Some people don’t understand how limiting a food allergy can be and they just don’t want to. Unfortunately, there may be times when you have to bring your own snacks or eat before or after a function.<br /><br />Sharing food with friends is a basic human pleasure that gives us a common experience; allergies make sharing that common experience challenging, but not impossible. By being willing to communicate thoughtfully and accommodate some changes, everyone can feel welcome and relaxed — which is why we share meals together in the first place.<br /><br />And send your Momma a Thank-You note.<br /><hr /><br />For more information about food allergies, check out <a href="http://www.foodallergy.org/">http://www.foodallergy.org</a> The site contains resources and recipes for all ages.<br />The statistics for this article came from the following sources:<br /><a href="http://www.aaaai.org/patients/question-week/Default.asp?contentid=8443">The American Academy of Allergy Asthma &Immunology web site</a><br /><a href="http://www.worldallergy.org/professional/allergic_diseases_center/anaphylaxis/anaphylaxissynopsis.php">The World Allergy Organization web site</a>Marianne Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09648505839492444841noreply@blogger.com0